


Higher, Further, Faster

by KryptonianHero



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Inspired by Captain Marvel (2019) but there is a twist, Kara is like Carol Danvers in this, Major Character Undeath, Memory Loss, Reunions, She goes by Vers, She's lost her memory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KryptonianHero/pseuds/KryptonianHero
Summary: Six years ago, in search of a second Kryptonian Colony, Kara Danvers died and her body was never found. Her family mourned for their loved one, and National City mourned for their hero.Six years later, Vers crashed landed in National City in search of a group of Skrulls, a species she had been at war with for as long as she could remember, only she couldn't remember anything from before six years ago. Determined to find the Skrulls, Vers' investigation becomes derailed when all is not what it seems. How are people recognizing her? Who is this 'Supergirl' and 'Kara'? And why has there been a man following her every move, claiming to know her?As the lies begin to unravel, Vers finally learns the truth about who she is as her whole world is turned upside down.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Minn-Erva
Comments: 18
Kudos: 60





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,
> 
> To be honest, I've been working on this for the past year or so. I first started writing this back when Captain Marvel came out, but back then it was nothing but a rough draft. I only started truly writing it once the movie came out on DVD.
> 
> I've been coming back to this several times over the past year. There were times when I would have some ideas with where to take it and then I would lose all creative focus, but over the past week, I suddenly found myself driven to finish it. Whether it was because of the lockdown, I don't know, but I've finally finished the story.
> 
> To give a rough summary, this is basically a merge between Captain Marvel (2019) and Supergirl, where Kara is like Carol Danvers in this story. I won't explain any more to avoid giving anything away, but I really hope you like this story. As I said, it's taken me a long time to finally finish it so I hope it's worth it.
> 
> Enjoy

_Her memories would come in small flashes. She could remember the fire and being surrounded by pieces of metal. She could remember the agonizing pain in her abdomen, and the taste of sand in her mouth. She could remember seeing the blood-painted sand, and the knowledge that it was all hers. She vividly remembered the fear. Fearing that this was how she would die, on a planet far away from home._

_But most importantly, she could remember the green man, approaching her through the smoke and fire. She remembered a gun and a flash of green._

_After that, the rest was a void._

* * *

Six years.

Six years since Kara died, and it still hadn’t gotten any easier.

Every day, for the past six years, Alex would make her way to the National City Cemetery, with fresh flowers in her hand, and would place them down against the freshly cleaned gravestone in the far corner.

_‘Kara Danvers. 1993 – 2019. In our hearts, your memory lingers, sweetly tender, fond & true. There is not a day we do not think of you.’_

She would sit down next to the gravestone, regaling her sister with stories about her day. She would tell her about their friends, and how much they missed her. About how much _she_ missed her. She’d tell her the city was safe because she knew that even in death, Kara would worry about the safety of her city. With an emotional farewell, Alex would leave the cemetery behind, ready to return the next day and repeat the cycle, until the day she joined her sister once again.

Six years since Kara died, and Alex knew it would never get easier, and she didn’t know if she wanted it to.

* * *

Lena Luthor was not an idiot. She was a certified genius, capable of creating technology so sophisticated it looked like magic to some people. She could see things that others couldn’t, notice the small details most people would ignore.

She knew Kara Danvers was Supergirl.

The keyword being _was_.

The genius billionaire had figured out the blonde’s secret identity long before the two even called themselves ‘friends’, but it was never her place to say. She had always wished that Kara would tell her the truth before she died, but when the news of her death came in, she couldn’t find it in herself to be angry. She could only mourn her best friend and the savior of the city.

She had paid for the funeral, despite the lack of body. Alex and Eliza had initially declined the offer, but Lena had insisted. The funeral was a small affair, and they had all returned to Kara’s apartment for the wake, reminiscing stories of Kara, and the things about her they loved the most.

Six years since Kara died, and Lena knew she would never have another friend like Kara.

* * *

In the years of working with Kara and Alex, J’onn had come to see the two Danvers girls as daughters. He had recruited Alex himself, saving her from the reckless party lifestyle that was going to get her killed. He had trained her personally, teaching her everything that he knew and transforming her into the best agent he knew,

Working with Kara, initially, had not been pleasant, and it was entirely due to him. To protect his ‘secret identity’, he had been cold and disparaging and had nearly been the cause of Supergirl’s short-lived career. However, she had quickly become one of the DEO’s greatest assets, and he came to treasure them fighting side-by-side.

He watched Kara grow into one of the greatest heroes the world had ever seen, watching her bring hope and joy to the people of the Earth, whenever they were in danger.

Six years since Kara died, and J’onn was once more, reliving the pain of losing a daughter.


	2. Chapter 1

Vers woke up in a place that could only be described as strange. She didn’t know where she was, what this place was, or even what planet she was on. The last thing she could remember before waking up was being chased by an armada of Skrulls, and an explosion that may or may not have been caused by her. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, wiping the plaster and debris from her hair and face as she looked around, taking in the area. It was a shop, of sorts, that she could tell, but not like the ones they had on Hala. On Hala, the stores were all high-tech, filled with holographic screens and automatic payment systems that could be done with the tap of a finger, whereas this store looked like it was from Hala’s dark ages, with only one payment option at the small till at the back. Also, she had no recollection of any stores that housed small squared packages with images on them back on Hala.

Vers stood up, brushing her uniform as she stared up out of the hole that she had created in the ceiling. This planet’s moon was shining directly above her. She stepped out of the crater, looking around some more. She checked her wrist, inspecting the small, built-in device on the back of her gauntlet. The screen was cracked, but still technically usable, but when she tapped the screen, it didn’t activate. Instead, it hissed, and Vers huffed in frustration, debating her next move.

“Vers to Starforce Command, do you read me?” she tried, her suit naturally picking her voice up through the communicator built into the suit, “do you copy?”

As she took a step forward, her foot stepped on one of the small packages, crunching under the weight of her boot. She frowned, leaning down to pick up the package, inspecting it as she flipped it over in her hands, gently holding the damaged corner.

_‘The Wizard of Oz’_

Somehow, this _‘Wizard of Oz’_ felt strangely familiar to Vers, but she didn’t know how. Her head filled with music that she had no memory of hearing, and the vision of a yellow pathway leading off into the sunset. She gently placed the package back down on one of the stands, walking towards the store door which had slightly bent open from the force caused by her impact. As she did so, a bright light illuminated the store, revealing a figure in the window, holding what looked like a large blaster. His shadow slid over Vers. He was quite tall and quite gifted in the muscle department, and he was looking right at her. Judging by the size of the weapon aimed at her, he was a threat She raised her arm, shooting a powerful Photon blast from her wrist, incinerating the head off the figure and creating a perfect circle in the glass window behind it. Strangely, there was no blood splatter or spasming body, nor did the body fall over. It remained where it stood, just missing its head. Confused, Vers marched over to the figure, grabbing it as she prepared to interrogate it, only to find out it was nothing more than a piece of cardboard with a printed image and large text at the bottom.

_‘The Terminator’_

She rolled her eyes, throwing the object to the side and yanking open the door. It was obviously an advertisement for a form of this planet’s entertainment. She had seen them on Hala, but those were electronic and they moved. Stepping outside, she was greeted by warm fresh air that was a grateful change to the pungent smell on Hala. She took in her surroundings. One thing this planet had in common with Hala was the large skyscrapers. Sure, the building she had just exited was quite small, but the surrounding skyscrapers towered over her, reminding her of the sharp spires, the bridging buildings, and the curved architecture that could be seen on Hala. The planet was clearly not advanced in technology like Hala was. The vehicles that were driving by seemed to require wheels to move, unlike the Hovercrafts she frequently used back on Hala or the hyper-trains. They were also clunky, extremely so, but out of all the planets she had visited since joining Starforce six years ago, this planet was one of the ‘nicer’ ones.

Speaking of vehicles, she spotted one parked across the road. A black, white, and blue vehicle with what seemed to be a set of lights on the roof. She noticed the large words _‘NCPD’_ imprinted across the side, along with a badge symbol with a small motto that, thanks to her enhanced vision, she could read as _'To Serve and Protect’_. It was clearly a military vehicle, so she marched over to it, heading to the side where the driver was sitting, happily munching on what seemed to be a snack made out of bread. She rapped her knuckles against the window, startling the driver as he hurried to roll it down.

“Hi, I’m Vers. Kree Starforce,” she greeted. The man stared at her; his mouth slightly open but no reply coming out. Vers frowned, cursing her damaged gauntlet. She tapped it again, “do you understand me? Is my universal translator working?”

“Yeah,” the driver muttered, “I- I understand you.”

“Good,” Vers nodded, “are you in charge of security for this district?” she asked, looking at his vehicle.

The man gawked up at her, blinking hard several times, “you’re- you- Supe-“

“Are you this district’s protector?” Vers asked again, interrupting his stuttering. She didn’t have time for this. She needed answers. She needed to know where she was.

“Well, uh, there’s- the movie theatre has its own guy,” the man answered, “but I’m just a cop. And- and I’m technically off duty.”

Vers sighed, standing up. This man clearly wasn’t any use to her. She tapped her gauntlet, attempting to activate the device for the third time whilst the police officer watched with curiosity. The screen did nothing upon her touch, and she grit her teeth in frustration. She leaned back down.

“Where can I find communications equipment?”

“Communication whatsit?” the officer frowned, “uh, there’s an old Radio-Shack down the road,” he pointed down the road. Vers eyeline followed his finger, before turning back to the officer, “and there’s an Apple store a few blocks away. They sell phones.”

“Thank you, -“ her eyes flicked down to the small nametag pinned into his collar, “Coulson.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Coulson murmured, watching as she walked away, heading in the direction he pointed, “Supergirl.”

He continued to watch until she disappeared around the corner, his sandwich forgotten on his lap.

The boys back at the NCPD would never believe this.

* * *

Since stepping down as Director of the DEO, J’onn has been able to do things that before he would consider a luxury. He got to enjoy early morning TV, he got to indulge in a breakfast that wasn’t the muck they served in the DEO canteen, but his favorite luxury of all was his ability to have a decent night’s sleep without being woken up in the early hours of the morning for an alien threat, or some other emergency that was occurring at the DEO.

Which is exactly the opposite of what he was doing right now, walking through the streets of National City in the early hours of the morning.

He had gotten a call from Harry, an Andorian migrant who had arrived on Earth a few years ago. The Andorian had proven himself skilled at finding out information, occasionally sharing said information with J’onn who would then pass the info onto Alex. J’onn normally didn’t like to deal with alien migrants. During his run as Director of the DEO, he had been quick to discover that a lot of alien immigrants were housing their own secret agenda, but not Harry. Harry had proven himself trustworthy, with no secret agenda other than wanting to help a friend.

However, trustworthy or not, J’onn knew that upon hearing what Harry had to say, he would’ve been following up the lead instantly.

It wasn’t every day you got a call telling you that a police officer was saying that Supergirl had crashed through the roof of a movie rental store and had proceeded to talk to him.

Now J’onn knew there was a good chance that this was just some rookie officer trying to cause some drama, or perhaps they had been mistaken under the poor lighting. Kara had died six years ago, and it had taken a while for everyone to accept it but they had. Despite that, however, J’onn knew he had to check.

He rounded the corner onto the street where the rental store was located. The car park was filled with multiple police cruisers, and the entire rental store had been cordoned off with police tape. A few reporters were snapping photos of the scene, with some trying to extract information from officers who refused to divulge information whilst some civilians watched with curiosity. He approached the scene, stepping up to the tape.

“Excuse me, sir, Imma have to ask you to step back,” one of the officers stepped forward, hand raised.

J’onn reached into his pocket, thankful that Alex had discreetly allowed him to keep his ‘psychic paper’ as Winn had dubbed it. His ‘psychic paper’ wasn’t psychic at all. It was, in fact, an electronic ID badge capable of adapting to whatever situation it was needed for. Alex had allowed him to keep it, ‘just in case’ he ever needed it, and need it he did.

“Special Agent Johnz,” J’onn lied, flashing the badge which now showed a fake FBI badge, “I’m here about the recent incident.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” the officer apologized, “I didn’t realize the FBI dealt with these situations. I thought this was the DEO’s jurisdiction.”

“It is, when they arrive here,” J’onn replied, which was technically the truth, “until an agent of the DEO arrives, this falls under FBI jurisdiction. Has the DEO been contacted?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“Why not?” J’onn asked.

“Truth is, sir, we don’t really know if Officer Coulson is telling the truth,” the officer answered, looking back to his colleagues, “he says he saw Supergirl, but we have no proof. We didn’t want to call in the DEO in case this turned out to be nothing but a fallen satellite or something like that.”

Despite the obvious error in judgment by the NCPD, J’onn was relieved to hear that the DEO knew nothing of this, which meant Alex knew nothing. The last thing she needed was false hope that her sister could still be alive, and back on Earth. He needed to keep it that way as long as possible.

“Is Officer Coulson known for making things up?” J’onn asked.

“Not really,” the officer shrugged, “but he’s… a bit of a fan, when it comes to Supergirl. He might’ve just been seeing what he wanted to see.”

“Can I speak to this Officer Coulson?”

“Yes sir,” the officer turned around, yelling, “oi! Coulson, get over here. There’s a Fed who wants to talk to you.”

The young officer jogged over to the pair, clearly in need of a decent night’s sleep, but still determined to do his job, “yes, sir?”

“This is Special Agent Johnz,” the officer introduced, “he has some questions for you,” he turned back to J’onn, “I’ll be over at the store entrance if you need me, sir.”

“Thank you.”

The officer left J’onn alone with Coulson. J’onn waited until he was out of earshot before speaking.

“So, tell me what happened.”

“Have you not been briefed, sir?” Coulson frowned.

“I have, but I’d like to hear it from the original source,” J’onn answered, “it’s easy for details to get twisted, so give me a rundown.”

Coulson nodded, “I normally patrol this area in the evenings. It’s always quiet, but I ‘spose that’s a good thing. I was having my lunch break in my car over there,” he pointed over to his cruiser, “when I thought I heard a crash. To be honest sir, I was tired, so I thought I was hearing things. Plus, there’s a movie theatre, not far from here, and I thought it might also have been some action film. It wasn’t until someone knocked on my car window that I realized what had happened. I rolled down my window and there she was, as clear as day, Supergirl.”

“You’re certain?” J’onn asked, trying to keep his hopes at bay, “you’re certain it was her?”

“Without a doubt, I’m a bit of a fan, if I do say so myself,” Coulson admitted, “I’ve got her trading cards. Near mint, just some slight foxing around the edges, so I recognized her instantly.”

“Was she wearing her uniform? Her suit?” J’onn probed.

“No, that was the only weird thing,” Coulson shook his head, “she was wearing a weird outfit. Body armor, or something. Usual colors. Red, blue, and gold, but she had a star on her chest. Not the usual ‘S’ symbol.”

“Okay, is there anything else you can tell me?” J’onn asked, “do you have any idea where she went? What she’s doing?”

“Oh, yeah, the old Radio-Shack down the road, or possibly the Apple store nearby,” Coulson nodded, “she wanted to repair a communication device or something. I was a bit shocked to ask anything. Not every day you get a missing superhero casually asking for directions, but she’s Supergirl. I’m sure she had her reasons.”

“The Radio-Shack?” J’onn asked, “or possibly the Apple store?”

“Yeah, it’s an old one,” Coulson nodded, pointing down the road behind J’onn, “it’s been there since the nineties. Not hard to miss. And the other store’s the opposite way.”

J’onn nodded, shaking Coulson’s hand, “thank1 you, officer. Have a nice day.”

At that, J’onn left the officer behind, rushing off in the direction of the store. The officer who initially spoke to J’onn watched as the Martian disappeared, confused as he abandoned the crime scene.

Could it be, J’onn couldn’t help but think. Could Kara really be alive and on Earth? From what Officer Coulson told him, it was most definitely her, but at the same time, something seemed off. A strange uniform, a communication device, _a new hairstyle_. If it really was Kara, why hadn’t she contacted any of them? Was it her doppelganger from another Earth? Perhaps a clone?

On the one hand, J’onn wanted to call Alex and break the news to her. To inform her that multiple sources were saying that Supergirl had been sighted in National City, but on the other hand, he knew that he needed to find out what was really happening before he made that call. Something was definitely off, and he was going to find Kara, or this doppelganger, or clone or whatever she was and find out what was happening. Only then would he tell Alex.

He just prayed she wouldn’t find out beforehand.

It didn’t take long for J’onn to find the Radio-Shack. After a few directions from strangers on the street, J’onn had found the store tucked in-between a Starbucks and a thrift shop on the street corner. The door window had a fist-sized hole next to where the lock was, and the metal shutter behind it had been torn open and forced up. He pulled open the door, taking note of the lack of supplies on the shelves, and whatever was left on the floor. There was nobody standing at the counter, and for a moment, J’onn wondered if there was anyone in.

“Hello,” he called out.

The sound of something hitting something hard filled the store, and the store counter jerked forward, toppling over a few objects on top, followed by a loud, muffled ‘motherfucker’. A tall black man suddenly stood up from underneath the counter, disheveled as he wiped his hands on his trousers. One of his eyes was covered by an eyepatch.

“Shit, sorry man,” the man apologized, rubbing his head, “I didn’t hear you come in. You can probably already tell but we’re closed.”

“I’m not here as a customer,” J’onn replied, pulling out his ‘psychic paper’, changing the badge to ‘NCPD’, “I’m Detective Johnz. I heard there was a robbery here last night?”

“Shit, yeah, damn that was quick,” the worker, whose name tag read ‘Fury’, frowned, “I only just called it in. What, were you around the corner or something?”

“I was. In fact, I was at the rental store not far from here. We have reason to believe your case is related to an incident there that happened last night,” J’onn explained, “can you tell me what exactly happened here?”

“Yeah,” Fury nodded, “I came to work like I normally do, doing my thing when I see the front door’s smashed open and the shutter’s been forced open. I come inside to find this shit everywhere and a ton of other things stolen. I then called the police, though I haven’t quite got around to calling my manager just yet. I don’t know how to explain what I saw on the CCTV to him. Not sure if he’d believe me anyway.”

“You have footage of the robbery?”

“Of course we do. This is a Radio-Shack, of course we got CCTV,” Fury replied.

“Can you tell me if the suspect matches this description?” J’onn asked, “female. Blonde. Wearing a red, blue and gold suit. Apparently looks exactly like Supergirl.”

“Yeah, it was,” Fury nodded, “what else she do last night? You mentioned an incident at the rental store down the road. Why’s Supergirl robbing my store?”

“We have reason to believe she is an alien,” J’onn answered, “last night, she crashed through the ceiling of the rental store.”

Fury nodded, “why’d she rob me though?”

“I was hoping you could answer that,” J’onn replied, “have you made a list of the products she stole yet?”

“I have,” Fury opened a small draw in the counter, pulling out a small slip of paper, “random shit though. No idea what for.”

J’onn took the slip of paper, skimming over the list of products.

“You have any idea what this is for?”

J’onn nodded, “maybe.”

* * *

Vers had been plugged into this ‘phone box’, whatever that meant, for the past few hours. She had summarised that it was some form of communication device, but it was so primitive that she had to spend the first-hour understanding how it worked. It seemed to work on currency, one that was physical rather than electronic. Once she understood how the device worked, she set to work on connecting it to her gauntlet. With the use of the objects that she had ‘borrowed’ from the electronics store, she was able to link up her gauntlet to the ‘phone’ with ease. It took a few attempts of trying out different combinations on the device, but eventually, the small screen on her wrist sparked to life.

She let out a cry of relief, her fingers instantly dancing across the screen as she brought up her navigator. The holographic map of the universe burst into life, illuminating her face. With her free hand, she drew into the map, zooming in on her current locating until a small holographic recreation of Earth was hovering above her wrist, reading ‘C-53 – Level Five Planet – Third Planet in Sol System – Threat Level: Low to None’.

She stared at the planet, frowning. It looked familiar to her, even though she had never been to this planet before. In fact, she had never even been outside of the Andromeda galaxy, yet here she was on this small, primitive blue planet and all she could think about was a small little Chinese restaurant on a street corner that sold something called ‘potstickers.’

She brushed the confusing thoughts aside, saving them for a later time. She swiped away the holograph, pulling up the built-in communicator. She pinged the communicator on her team’s ship, hoping for a response. She waited for a few minutes, looking outside to make sure no passers-by were getting too curious when a voice came through.

“Vers?!”

The staticky voice of Yon-Rogg, the commander of Starforce and the Kree soldier who made her the woman she was today spoke through her gauntlet. Her head snapped back, staring down at his distorted holographic image. He was staring up at her, but his image kept flickering and distorting.

“Vers?! Verify. CTC-39,” he revealed his own personal verification code, one used after any fight against the Skrulls to locate any hiding as one of their own.

“GRVX-1600,” Vers complied, “and I’m fine, thanks for asking… is everyone okay? What happened?”

“A Skrull ambush,” Yon-Rogg revealed, “there were more waiting for us outside C-53’s jump point… I thought I lost you. Where are you? We’ve been unable to track your location on C-53.”

“I’m fine,” Vers replied, “I managed to get on the Skull ship, but I was knocked down to this city when I damaged it. My communicator was damaged in the fall and I’ve spent the better part of a few hours using… whatever this technology is repairing it.”

Yon-Rogg turned to his co-pilot, Att-Lass, who was attempting to track Vers’ precise location to no luck, “how far is C-53 from us now?”

“With the distance we’ve made since the attack and the damage to our jump drive,” Att-Lass answered, “twenty-two hours.”

“We were headed back to Hala to receive new orders from the Supreme Intelligence but that can wait,” Yon-Rogg explained, “Vers, we’ve turned back around, and we’re headed your way.”

“Twenty-two hours? I can do that,” Vers nodded.

“Vers, this is important. Did any Skrulls survive?”

Vers nodded, “upon repairing my gauntlet, it picked up four Skrull life signs when I crashed, but they’ve disappeared, which can only mean they’re Skrulls and they’ve changed form. I’ll track them down and terminate them before they can do any harm whilst you’re on your way.”

“Good,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “the last thing we need is the Skrulls dragging an unsuspecting planet into this godforsaken war. But be safe, okay. If it gets too much, hang back and wait for us to arrive. We can track them down together.”

Vers nodded, “Hey, uh… are the others listening right now?”

Yon-Rogg looked around, his head disappearing for a split second before returning, “not anymore. What’s wrong?”

Vers paused, thinking over her words before speaking, “do you remember those weird dreams I used to have when I first joined Starforce six years ago?”

“I do,” Yon-Rogg replied, “you were worried they would interfere with your training, but you were able to overcome them. It’s why I cleared you for duty.”

“I… I think there’s a chance they were more than dreams.”

“You mean…?"

“Since crashing on this planet, I’ve been having weird moments,” Vers explained, “it’s hard to say. It’s like I see things and I recognize them, but I don’t know how. I have no idea what any of these things are called, what this city is or where I am but at the same time, it feels like part of me is drawn here like I know the place. And I’m pretty sure some people recognize me, or my uniform really sticks out.”

Yon-Rogg looked thoughtful for a moment, silent before speaking, “you must remember your training, Vers. I know how difficult and confusing this must all be for you, but you must remember the mission. There are four Skrulls on that planet. You must focus on them. The mission always comes first. For the good of all Kree.”

Vers looked like she wanted to argue, to demand that she be allowed to follow up on this recent evidence, but she knew he was right. There are four Skrulls on this planet. One Skrull was enough to cause serious damage. Four could probably topple an entire government, given enough time. So, she relinquished, nodding.

“You’re right.”

“Good. We’ll be with you shortly,” Yon-Rogg smiled, pleased, “find out their whereabouts and if you get the chance, take ‘em out. The sooner they’re all dead, the sooner we can report back to Hala. What is your plan of action?”

“From what I’ve seen, this city has many aliens inhabiting it alongside the Terrans,” Vers answered, “they’re using some rudimentary version of an image inducer but they’re easy to see through. Hopefully, someone knows or has seen something.”

“Good,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “then I wish you luck. We’ll contact you when we arrive at C-53.”

The call ended, and the holograph of Yon-Rogg faded from life, leaving Vers alone in the phone booth. She tapped her gauntlet once again, bringing up the last-known locations of the four Skrull survivors. She brought up the holographic recreation of the city, cross-referencing the locations to her map before swiping the holograph away. She stepped out of the phone booth, pulling the wires from her gauntlet as she prepared herself for the long search ahead.

She turned around and froze.

Standing at the end of the alleyway, unmoving in the sea of humans was J’onn, not that she knew that, and he was staring directly at her. He wore a shocked expression. Vers stared back, tilting her head slightly as she tried to figure out who he was and why he was watching her. Part of her recognized him, though she knew not where. She wanted to question him, demand to know who he was, why he was staring at her, and why he was clearly following her but she didn’t have time. As Yon-Rogg had said, there are four Skrulls in this city, and she had to terminate them before they caused any unrepairable damage. Turning away from the strange man, she squashed the growing questions deep down, walking away until she was out of his line of sight.


	3. Chapter 2

Vers' fist connected with the Threl’s Cephalopod-like mouth and the tall alien dropped to the ground with a loud thud. She had recognized the Squid-looking extra-terrestrial the moment she had seen him. A familiar species from the Andromeda galaxy, they were known for their illegal dealings from drugs to weapons, and occasionally, kidnapped Kree. They had been a constant ally of the Skrulls in the ongoing Kree-Skrull War. If anyone knew where the location of the four Skrulls was, it was him.

The Threl swore in his native language, spitting his ink-like blood onto the floor, “alright, alright!” his universal translator translating his language into heavily accented English, “I know who you’re talking about.”

“Where are they?” Vers spat, pulling him up by the scruff of his collar, “where are the Skrulls?!”

“I don’t know where they are!” the Threl screeched, cowering as Vers’ fist began to glow, “I swear. I know who you’re talking about. There’s no way a species like the Skrulls can crash here without word spreading but I don’t know where they’re hiding!”

“Well, what do you know!?”

“They’re planning something!” the Threl yelled, “my local informant told me they’re collecting alien equipment. What for? I don’t know, but they’ve been visiting alien arms dealers and stealing their equipment and killing anyone who gets in their way.”

“Your informant, who is he?” Vers asked, “species? Name? gender? Location? Tell me everything!”

“His human name is Terry,” the Threl answered, “he’s an Aesor but he’s using L-Corp’s Image Inducer to look Terran.”

“Where can I find him?”

“He frequents at the alien dive bar on Metropolis Avenue,” the Threl answered, “the password is Sherbet Lemon. It’s an alien friendly haven. They have a strict no violence policy.”

Ignoring the warning, Vers released her grip on the Threl’s collar, allowing the alien to scurry away in fear. She was now one step closer to finding the Skrull’s location and putting an end to whatever they had planned. Whatever it was they were planning though, could not be good. They were collecting alien equipment, which heavily indicated they were building something. A communication device? A bomb? Perhaps a transportation device to bring more Skrulls. Vers didn’t know, but this ‘Terry’ could tell her.

So, she began heading towards her next stop. The ‘alien dive bar on Metropolis Avenue’.

* * *

* * *

From what J’onn could see, the door to the alien dive bar had been forced open. At first glance, everything looked normal. The dive bar’s neon sign was still illuminating the alleyway, the door was still attached to its hinges and there was no sign of any damage on the outside walls. If J’onn was coming as a regular patron, then he wouldn’t have suspected a thing, but he wasn’t a regular patron. He used to be the director of a covert military operation, with decades of experience and training under his belt, as well as possessing senses far superior to those of a human. Plus, he had good eyesight.

Which could quite clearly see the dented handprint on the metal door.

A door that was designed to keep the violent criminals of National City out, even those of the superpowered kind, or those who wielded superpowered weapons. He could also make out the finger-sized dents on the small shutter that the bouncer used when demanding the dive bar’s rotating password as if it had been pried open.

J’onn tentatively placed his hand against the door and pressed gently. The door slowly opened, revealing a large missing chunk of the door frame where the lock would usually be. He could see the remains of the door lock on the floor.

In what seemed to be green blood.

J’onn peered behind the door, where he discovered the unconscious form of a humanoid alien slumped against the wall, with a large cut above his forehead. One that matched the size of the streak of blood on the edge of the door. He knelt beside the body and pressed two fingers against the alien’s pulse point, where he found a steady pulse. Judging by the alien’s uniform, he had been the dive bar’s bouncer. He hadn’t expected the door to be opened with such force, and as a result, had been standing right in front of it when it connected with his head. Unconsciousness would’ve been instantaneous.

He was alive at least. The last thing they needed was reports of alien’s being killed at a location where they were supposed to be safe.

His attention was pulled away from the body when the sound of glass shattering echoed from the doorway at the end of the hall, followed by a pained grunt. J’onn carefully stepped up to the doorway and finally looked inside the dive bar.

The bodies of the bar’s security team were scrawled across the floor, and their weapons had somehow been melted down by heat so intense that the remains had melded into the floor. There was glass scattered all over the floor, and liquids that seemed to be a mixture of alcohol, blood and possibly urine, judging by the smell. Some of the wooden tables had been damaged, with chunks and splinters of wood lying about the floor. The bar itself had seemed to take the most damage. The beer taps had endured the same heat that had melted the weapons and was now bent into an awkward position. The bottles of wine, spirits, and cider had shattered, soaking the bar in alcohol and creating a pungent smell that filled the room.

Thankfully, no customer bodies were lying about. How many there had been when the attack started, J’onn couldn’t tell, but it seemed that they had all fled when the attack began, judging by the purses, phones and image inducers that had been left behind on what remained of the tables.

J’onn finally stepped into the dive bar, wondering what could’ve possibly caused this level of damage. Was it Kara? He had tried to follow her, but he had lost sight of her. The only thing that had alerted him to the bar was the onslaught of psychic messages that had overcome him all in one go. She may have disappeared from his vision, but the damage dealt to this establishment certainly matched the damage J’onn knew a Kryptonian could inflict when they wanted to. The melted beer taps and weaponry? Possibly caused by the heat from Kara’s heat vision. The door with the handprint pressed into the metal, opened with such force that it had taken out a portion of the door frame? Possibly caused by Kara’s enhanced strength.

But surely it wasn’t Kara, J’onn thought to himself. The Kara he knew would never attack like this. The Kara he knew detested unnecessary violence, and she hated the idea of spilling her enemy’s blood, no matter how evil they were. Yet when he had looked at Kara back at the phone booth, he had not seen the Kara he knew. That familiar warmth in her eyes, the joy in her smile. Non-existent. And then he had watched her beat information out of a Threl, in a way that reminded him of Alex when she first started at the DEO.

So what could-

“I hope you have a good reason as to why you’re following me.”

That voice. It _was_ her.

“You’ve been following me all day and I’d like to know why,” she continued.

J’onn turned around to the door he had just come through and came face to face with her. Aside from her hair, she barely looked any different than she did six years ago. The hair on the right side of her head had been shaved down, and the rest had been combed so it rippled down the left side of her head, where it stopped at her jawline. It was quite a departure from the neat, put-together look Kara had strived for when being her ‘human’ identity.

It was her. Kara, or so he thought.

* * *

“It is you,” the man spoke.

Vers frowned, tilting her head at the man in front of her as she took in his appearance. He wasn’t wearing a uniform of any kind, just some basic clothing with no sign of obvious weaponry, but as she knew from years of fighting Skrulls alongside Starforce, looks could be deceiving. She knew he was an alien, but her gauntlet couldn’t identify what, and that had never happened to her before, which meant whoever this man was, he came from a species that had never met the Kree.

Or he was exactly what she was looking for.

“You know me?” Vers asked. She certainly didn’t know him. But why did she feel like she used to?

J’onn frowned at her, “of course I do, Kara. It’s me, J’onn.”

Kara?

Vers shook her head, “I’m sorry but you have the wrong person. My name is Vers, not Kara,” the name felt odd on her tongue, “and I’ve never been to this planet before. Now, my gauntlet tells me that you’re not of this planet, but it doesn’t recognize your species, so would you kindly tell me what planet you’re from so I can identify you?”

“What?” J’onn’s confusion deepened. Hala? Vers?

“I’m a member of Starforce, a military task-force from the planet Hala,” Vers explained, “I crashed her after a battle against the Skrulls, and unfortunately, four crashed here with me. I’m trying to locate them so I can stop whatever it is they’re planning, and luckily, I was given something to go on by an Aesor, but right now, I want to know why you’re following me.”

“But you do know me,” J’onn stepped forward, “I know it’s been six years, but we know each other.”

Vers’ hand faltered on her gauntlet.

Six years?

_Fire everywhere. Surrounded by scorched metal. Agonizing pain. Blood-painted sand._

Six years since her accident. Six years since she lost her memory. Lost a part of herself, all because of the Skrulls. And now this man claimed to know her from six years ago. Could she truly have been to this planet before? Known this man before her accident?

But Yon-Rogg told her otherwise, and she had no reason to doubt him. That man had helped her piece her life back together, presented her with proof of her life on Kree. He taught her everything he knew. Turned her into the woman she was today. If it wasn’t for him and Starforce, she’d have nothing.

She’d be a nobody with no memory.

“I’m going to ask you one last time,” Vers demanded, “why are you following me? I’ve told you I’ve never been to this planet before. I don’t know you or anyone here, so I don’t know what you’re-“

She paused, staring down at her gauntlet. The bio-scanner that was built into the device by the Supreme Intelligence had proven efficient at identifying shapeshifters, namely Skrulls. Any shapeshifter could change their exterior appearance, it was the trick of their trade, but their biology always remained the same. Because of that, the scanner in her wrist could always tell her when she was face to face with a shapeshifter and had saved her life more than once.

And according to her scanner, she was right now.

She acted on instinct. She didn’t know for sure if this man was a Skrull, as she knew Skrulls were not the only shapeshifter, but he had been following her all day, feeding her lies about knowing her and all she needed was a sample of his blood to identify if he was a Skrull or not. She lunged forward, her hand closing around his throat and picked him up off the ground with ease. The attack took him by surprise and he yelled as she flew him across the room, using his body to break through a wall as they fell into the dive bar’s mangy bathroom.

J’onn groaned in pain as he was lifted once again and forced face-first into another wall. She pinned him hard against the plaster.

“Reveal yourself, now!” she growled, applying pressure to the back of his head.

“Kara, let me go!” J’onn urged, “you have to trust me.”

“Trust you?” Vers asked. She spun him around and socked him in the stomach, causing him to collapse. He’d been on the receiving end of Kara’s punches before, but she’d never punched like this, “all you’ve done is lie to me. You’ve been following me and then you refuse to reveal your identity. Now, under the order of Starforce under intergalactic law, I command you to reveal your true form.”

“Then what?” J’onn growled.

Vers raised her fist, and much to J’onn’s surprise, it started to glow. The light was blinding, he felt like he was staring directly into the sun, and the heat was rising, “that depends on who you really are.”

Before J’onn had a chance to explain, Vers was suddenly engulfed by a burst of electricity, and the blue strands of energy danced around her body as she jerked away from him in shock. She finally released her grip on his shirt as the light show on her hand died. She gasped in pain, reaching around for her back as she scrambled to get the attacker off her back. He watched as she pried something off the back of her armor and the electricity faded away. It was a small circular device, and J’onn recognized it instantly because he helped created it.

“One target, ma’am,” a male voice called out.

J’onn could see through the hole that Vers had created when she attacked him, and he could see as heavily armed DEO agents filtered into the dive bar.

“We have more casualties inside, ma’am,” the same agent announced, “no sign of more targets. Just the one. Female, humanoid, and heavily armed.”

J’onn watched as the familiar figure of Alex Danvers stepped into the bar, her signature energy-based pistol raised as she surveyed the area. Vers was still facing him, but she was breathing heavily, and he could see from the look in her eyes that she was listening out to calculate the number of opponents.

“Alex, don’t shoot,” J’onn called out.

“J’onn!?” Alex’s eyes widened, “what the hell are you doing here?”

Vers frowned, head twitching at Alex’s voice. Yet another one. Another voice that scratched at that empty void in her memories. Who were these people? Why did she have vague recollections of them, but at the same time, have no clue as to who they were? Each question led to another which led to another. She was getting sick of these questions. She wanted answers.

She slightly raised her fist, and J’onn urgently shook his head at her.

“Hands where we can see them!” Alex ordered, completely unaware of the revelation she was about to face, “and turn around.”

Vers raised her hands, pivoting on her feet.

J’onn watched as Alex’s eyes widened and the grip on her gun slackened as it slipped from her grasp. Even her fellow agents’ weapons faltered as Vers’ face came into view.

“Kara?” Alex croaked, “you- you’re alive?”

The DEO director took a quick step towards Vers, and that was enough for J’onn to realize it was a mistake. He watched as Vers’ body tensed at the approach.

“I can’t believe it. You’re alive,” Alex went to embrace Vers, and that was when the blonde struck.

Before Alex, or any of her agents, had any time to react, Vers shot out her fist. Her knuckles connected with the plate of armor that was protecting Alex’s chest and the woman’s eyes widened as she was thrown across the dive bar.

“Alex!” J’onn roared.

He shot up and lunged at Vers, no longer caring about her resemblance to Kara. But the woman simply weaved away from his attack. She brought her fist, now lit again with that incredible energy, down against his face as he turned to attack again. The impact sent a small shockwave through the dive bar, forcing back a few of the DEO agents, and the heat of the energy radiating from Vers’ fist singed his cheek as he was forced back into the floor.

“Open fire!” one of the DEO agents yelled.

One by one, the agents raised their weapons and began firing. Bullet casings began pooling around their feet as a barrage of ammunition was fired at Vers’. It did nothing but fill the air with the sound of metal clinking as the bullets simply rebounded off Vers’ chest and fell to the floor, their tips dull.

As soon as the first rounds of ammunition were expended, Vers took that as her queue. The golden energy that was rippling from her hand began spreading across her entire body, lighting up the entire room as her entire body became covered by the powerful cosmic energy. Her hair began to rise and shine as the energy filtered into that as well, making her look like she was on fire.

Only it wasn’t her who was on fire.

The assault rifles in the hands of the DEO agents began to sizzle and melt, and the agents had no other choice but to drop them quickly as they began to burn the skin under their gloves. Vers started to rise into the air, and as quickly as the attack had started, the agents were lying on the floor as Vers let out a burst of cosmic energy, sending knocking everyone down. She shot up into the sky, tearing through the roof until she was completely gone from sight, with only a slight mist of cosmic energy lingering in the air left behind.

J’onn pushed himself up off the floor, wincing in pain as he stood up, bruised all over. The agents were doing the same, checking themselves and their friends over for any visible injuries. J’onn helped a few of them to their feet before heading to Alex. She wasn’t unconscious, but she was just staring where Vers had stood.

“Alex?” J’onn prodded.

She jerked, slowly looked at him. She frowned, “that- that was…”

“Perhaps,” J’onn nodded, holding out a hand and helping her to her feet, “it looked like her, but we don’t know for sure. We’ve dealt with clones and doppelgangers before.”

“Why did she attack you?” Alex asked, “why would she attack us? In fact, why are you even here?”

J’onn sighed, “I got a call. From Harry.”

“Your Andorian informant?” Alex frowned, “I thought he skipped town.”

“He returned not long ago,” J’onn nodded, “last night, there was an incident at an old video rental store not far from here. Something fell from the sky and crashed through the roof. There was an officer nearby when a woman approached him, asking for directions. The officer called it in, reporting that the woman was identical to Supergirl. Harry called me this morning when he heard.”

“Why didn’t you call it in?” Alex demanded, “why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I had to be sure, Alex,” J’onn explained, “it was the middle of the night. The officer was tired. For all I knew, it was a big mistake and this woman looked nothing like Kara, but then I went to the Radio Shack she broke into. She was looking for parts to repair a device and when I spoke to the worker, his description of the woman also matched the officer’s. They both claimed this woman was Supergirl.”

“And then?”

“Then I saw her,” J’onn revealed, “she was at a photo booth, speaking to a device on her gauntlet. It was her, clear as day, but she didn’t recognize me. I didn’t want to call you, Alex. I had no idea if this was Kara or a doppelganger from another Earth, or maybe a clone like the one Clark has. I had to be sure, so I tracked her. She’s looking for four aliens. An alien species called Skrulls but I’ve never heard of them. She attacked an Aesorian immigrant for information and he led her here. I confronted her, I tried to explain to her that she knew me, but she had no idea who I was. She claims she’s never been to this planet before. She thought I was lying to her, and once the device on her wrist told her I was a shapeshifter, she attacked me.”

“Did she tell you anything?” Alex probed, “any information as to who she might be?”

“She calls herself Vers,” J’onn answered, “a member of a military force from the planet Hala called Starforce. She crashed here after a battle with the Skrulls, and four came with her unless she was lying.”

“Hala?” Alex frowned, “I’ve never heard of a planet called Hala, and there’s no record of it on the DEO database.”

“Me neither.”

“You should’ve called, J’onn,” Alex sighed, “we need to get back to the DEO. We need to get these injuries looked at and call someone in to deal with this mess. CatCo’s gonna have a field day with this.”

Alex ordered her team out of the bar, and J’onn followed.

“And I want to know why there’s a woman with my sister’s face attacking people in National City,” Alex added, “the last thing we need is someone dishonoring Kara’s memory.”

On the roof of a nearby building, Vers watched with curiosity as the team climbed into the standard-issue DEO truck. She continued to watch until the vehicle had disappeared from view.

Sister?


	4. Chapter 3

“You all look terrible.”

Brainy’s statement came out of nowhere, and Alex resisted the urge to flinch as the Coluan appeared suddenly at her side. He took her weapon off her hands as she waved off the medic who had rushed to her aid. She pointed at the agents with far more severe injuries as she stepped up to the console in the middle of the DEO HQ. The agents sat at the agency’s computers had thrown themselves into locating the mystery woman, currently unaware of who she seemed to be.

“Thanks, Brainy,” Alex hissed, rubbing at her bruised chest as she shrugged off her body armor, “great bedside manner. I feel better already.”

“Thank you,” Brainy smiled, still oblivious as ever to sarcasm, “Nia told me it needed work, and I’ve been researching it. I’m glad it’s paying off.”

Alex spluttered at his response but shrugged it off.

“What happened?”

The second voice took J’onn by surprise, and not a good one. He turned around, greeted by the sight of Eliza Danvers, Alex’s mother, and Kara’s adoptive mother. She was stood by the door to Alex’s office, staring at both her daughter’s and J’onn’s injuries with concern.

“Alex, you’re hurt,” Eliza fretted.

“Eliza?” J’onn startled, “I didn’t realize you were in National City.”

“I came down to visit for the week,” Eliza answered, walking over to Alex, “not much to do in Midvale these days. I thought Alex told you.”

“Mom was with me when I got the alert,” Alex added, “we were at Jitters having breakfast when Brainy called me.”

“But what happened out there?” Eliza repeated, “you’re both all bruised and your armor’s a wreck. I thought you said this was state of the art.”

“Do you want to tell her? Or should I?” Alex asked, looking away from Eliza, still processing the news, “'cause you seem to know more about it than me.”

Eliza frowned, looking at them both, “I don’t understand. Tell me what? Will someone tell me what happened out there?”

Accepting the job bestowed upon him by Alex, J’onn turned to Eliza, “I have been investigating a lead I was sent this morning, by an informant I knew when I was the director of the DEO. There was an incident at a rental store. Something fell from the sky and destroyed the roof and moments after, a police officer was approached by a woman. A woman who he claims was identical… to Supergirl.”

The room fell silent at the news, with some agents turning from their station at the news. All eyes were on J’onn now.

Eliza’s face fell, the exact same way as her daughter’s had earlier when she laid eyes on Vers, “what?”

J’onn nodded, “the claim was supported when that same woman broke into a Radio Shack not long after to steal supplies. The worker there said the same thing.”

“But they’re just claims,” Eliza argued, “they could be wrong.”

“Mom,” Alex cut in softly, “they’re not wrong. I saw her with my own eyes. We all did.”

“We both saw her, Eliza,” J’onn agreed, “she looks just like Kara. Sounds like just Kara. They’re identical.”

“Then why didn’t you bring her in?” Eliza asked, “why isn’t she here?”

Alex stepped up, wincing, “she doesn’t seem to know who we are. In fact, she claims she’s never been to Earth. She doesn’t even call herself Kara, mom.”

“She calls herself Vers,” J’onn revealed, “she claims to be from the planet Hala, though I’ve never heard of it and is a member of that planet’s military force, Starforce. She has no memory of her time on Earth- if she is Kara, that is.”

“Brainy, you’re from the future,” Alex turned to the Coluan, “did you ever hear of the planet Hala? Of Starforce? When you lived in the future.”

The Coluan froze for a second, his computerlike brain digging through his countless memories before moving, “unfortunately, no. I never came across the planet Hala or a military force called Starforce during my time with the Legion.”

“So what is she doing now?” Eliza asked.

“Before she attacked us,” J’onn started, “she told me that before she fell to Earth, she and Starforce were in a battle against the Skrulls. And judging by the way she reacted when she discovered I’m a shapeshifter, we can assume these Skrulls are shapeshifters as well. When she crashed to Earth, four Skrulls crashed with her. She’s looking for them.”

“You told me when you saw her, she was speaking to a device,” Alex spoke, “any idea who? A name?”

“I couldn’t hear,” J’onn shook his head, “or see who she was talking to.”

“Okay, so we need to find her or these Skrulls before she potentially brings an intergalactic war down on our heads,” Alex ordered, “we don’t know the extent of this Starforce’s battle against these Skrulls. Brainy, ever heard of the Skrulls?”

“No,” Brainy shook his head, “like Hala and Starforce, I have no records of a species called Skrulls. However, the universe is a big place. Wherever they come from, it must be considerably far away for the Legion to not know of them.”

“When she was getting information from a Threl, it told her they’re collecting alien equipment,” J’onn revealed, “they’ve been stealing from alien arms dealers, but what for? I don’t know.”

“So we find out which arms dealers have been hit, find out what they’ve taken and maybe find out what they’re making,” Alex replied, “a signal to the rest of their people? A weapon? Who knows? Let’s find it and stop them before this Kara lookalike hurts anyone else.”

Eliza stepped up to her daughter as she stepped away from the console, “what can I do?”

“Nothing,” Alex shook her head, “I’m taking you back to my place.”

“Alex-“

“Mom,” Alex stopped her, “I’m taking you home. Right now, I’m going to be extremely busy and there’s nothing for you to do here. If I need your help, I will pick you up but right now the best place for you to be is away from here. If these Skrulls are stealing alien tech, we have to hope they don’t discover the one place in the city full of it.”

* * *

She had lasted an hour walking through the streets of the city she was in before she ‘acquired’ a new set of clothes. Vers liked to consider herself a patient person, although Minn-Erva would probably disagree with her on that, but even for the most patient person, there were only so many stares she could endure before she had had enough. Everyone on the streets just kept staring at her. and even though she couldn’t tell if it was because of her face or her uniform, she had had enough.

So she ‘acquired’ some clothes from a nearby store. They were all odd to her, and they felt weird on her skin, but they did the job. She had picked a pair of blue ‘jeans’, at least that’s what the shop called them, with the small device that held her Kree armor was strapped to her belt loops, a white shirt with a symbol on the front she didn’t recognize, a grey leather jacket and two small shoes that supposedly helped with running, even if they felt like they were crushing her feet.

Perhaps she should’ve picked the right size before rushing out with the stolen goods.

To top off her outfit, she had also grabbed a blue baseball cap. The front had an odd ‘S’ symbol stitched on, but as she pulled the front down to obscure some of her face from the public’s view, she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Now she could walk through the city without feeling people staring at the back of her head.

The Aesor had not been a waste of her time. The alien informant had revealed more to her than the Threl had, after a bit of persuasion, but it had undoubtedly given her the best lead she had on the Skrulls since she crashed to this planet. According to the Aesor, the Skrulls had hit an alien soup kitchen that operated in secret as an arms dealer for alien weaponry. The patrons, the innocent aliens in need who needed that kitchen, had no idea of its true purpose until the attack earlier in the morning. Apparently, the Skrulls had stolen a large shipment of imported alien weaponry, killing the arms dealers on their way out and any civilians that made the mistake of staying. If Vers could get into that kitchen, it could provide her with a clue to their next location. If she was lucky, there would be security footage. However, the Skrulls were no slouches. Any security cameras were probably destroyed before the attack to secure their stolen identities, and anyone who had seen them would not have lived to tell the tale.

“Are you going to see her?”

Vers was pulled from her thoughts by the voice of a child. A small child whose height barely surpassed her knees. She was staring up at Vers with curiosity, pulling the cuffs of what appeared to be a costume. The top half was bright blue, with the same emblem that was on Vers’ hat stitched onto the chest. The lower half was a bright red skirt, attached by a golden belt. She finished the costume with a pair of red wellies.

“See who?” Vers frowned.

“Supergirl,” the girl replied, “my mom and dad are taking me to see her.”

“Really,” Vers smiled, peering around for the sight of a mother and father looking for their daughter, “what makes you think I’m going to see her as well?”

The girl pointed up at Vers’ cap, “you’re wearing her symbol. Everyone wears that when they see her. That’s why I’m wearing this. My mom made it for me. And you look lost.”

Vers nodded, impressed, “those are some good deduction skills you’ve got there,…”

“Hanna,” the girl beamed.

“Nice to meet you, Hanna,” Vers greeted, “my name is Vers, and you are correct. I am lost.”

“Supergirl’s that way,” Hanna pointed behind, “in the middle of the park. It’s my favorite park.”

“Is it?” Vers asked, “it must be nice then if it’s your favorite.”

“I can show you the way, come with me!” Hanna beamed as she took off running in the direction of the park. Surprised by the girl’s sudden burst of speed, Vers quickly looked over her shoulder again in search of the mother and father. There were no signs of any parents watching over Hanna, no mother and father frantically looking for their daughter, so begrudgingly, Vers followed. She could see Hanna’s red cape flapping behind her back, providing Vers with a suitable tracker as she walked through the crowds of people at a quick pace to keep up with the younger girl.

She could see Hanna as she came to a stop, right outside the entrance to the park. She waved at Vers excitedly, not stopping until she was several feet in front of her.

“Come on, she’s right through here,” Hanna urged, grasping Vers’ hand and pulling her into the park, “I know the way.”

“Hanna, perhaps you should wait for your parents,” Vers suggested, glancing back over her shoulder. Still no sign, “I’m sure this Supergirl lady can wait. They’ll be worried about you when they realize you’re gone.”

“She’s right here,” Hanna ignored the statement, clearly on purpose as she came to a stop, “see?”

“Where?” Vers frowned, she looked around, clutching Hanna’s hand to make sure she didn’t sprint off again. She couldn’t see anyone. There was no woman dressed the same way as Hanna, just small crowds of people. Some on their phones, some having their midday lunch, some simply taking a romantic stroll with their loved ones. No sign of this ‘Supergirl’, “look, we should-“

“No, you’re not looking hard enough. She’s right there,” Hanna complained, pulling Vers forward, “everyone’s in the way.”

Hanna quickly darted forward, pushing through the group of people, and Vers was forced to mutter a string of apologies as they looked down in confusion at the small girl forcing her way through and parting them.

“See, I told you.”

Tell her she had. It appeared Supergirl was not a person like Hanna had led her to believe, but rather a statue of someone who had clearly been a person at one point. It was a life-size figure of the woman, wearing the exact same outfit that Hanna wore, albeit with more detail. There were flowers and cards laid around the pedestal she was stood on, all with their own unique messages scribbled on. Some were statements of grief; some were statements of love. However, they all conveyed the same message. The people of this city still missed her.

_‘Supergirl – El Mayarah – Stronger Together’_

“She died,” Hanna revealed, pulling Vers’ attention away from the plaque, “six years ago. I was just a baby, but my mom said it was a big deal all over the world. The city held a funeral for her, even though there wasn’t a body to bury.”

“How?” Vers asked, “how did she die?”

“We don’t know,” Hanna replied, “according to my mom, one day she just disappeared. It was announced she had died later. Everyone hoped she would come back like her cousin once did, but she never did. There are statues like this all-over National City, but this was the first to be made.”

“Who was she?”

“Who- who was she?” Hanna stared at Vers like she had grown two heads, “you don’t know who Supergirl is? She was a hero. A superhero. She saved the world so many times. I’ve always wanted to be just like her. I even asked my mom to give me the same hairstyle like her. Look,” she pointed to her hair.

Vers’ eyes drifted from Hanna’s hair to the hair on the statue, and her body went cold. Her grip on Hanna’s hand had loosened, enough for the young girl’s own to slip from hers as she stepped towards the statue. Since seeing the statue, she had paid no attention to its face. Her eyes had instantly focused on the glyph on its chest, and the small plaque and its surrounding gifts. But now, looking at the face of this Supergirl, Vers couldn’t believe her own eyes.

Because she was staring right into them.

It was her. The statue of this fallen hero was without a doubt her, down to the smallest details in the marble. She could see the small scar right next to her eyebrow, whoever had created the statue had carved the enlarged pupil in her eye into the stone. Whoever created this work of art had clearly spent a lot of time on the small details when chipping away. It was a perfect replica of Vers, right down to the height. It was so lifelike that it was almost unnerving to look at.

“How- how long ago?” Vers stuttered, “you said she died? When was it again?”

“Six years,” Hanna answered.

Six years?

Six years since she and Starforce were attacked by Skrulls. The attack that resulted in her losing her memories. The attack that had changed her into the woman she is now, the woman who was half of what she used to be.

But six years since this doppelganger disappeared? Along with the shapeshifter and the red-headed woman from the alien bar who both clearly recognized her, even referring to her as ‘Kara’. The two had clearly been shocked to see her standing in front of them. And then there were the familiarities she had been experiencing all day. The Wizard of Oz? The smell of the caffeinated drink they referred to as coffee? The foreign restaurant with the smell that smelt so delicious and so familiar she could practically remember the taste? The dreams she had, that were looking more like memories as time went on.

One familiarity was a coincidence. She could chalk that it up to it reminding her of Hala, but more than one? And the fact she was staring into the face of a memorial of herself? How could she possibly argue against that? What reason could possibly exist to explain this?

Whatever this was, it was way too intricate to be a part of the Skrulls’ plans. The only time the Skrulls were known to be this detailed was when they were infiltrating a planet and prepping it for a hostile takeover, but C-53? It was way too far from their homeworld to be a viable base of operations for the war, and the number of alien species that lived on this planet would’ve proved impossible to infiltrate without a word of their presence reaching Hala. The jump point that lived right above the planet was evidently picked by chance. The universe was littered with millions of jump points. The Skrulls had simply picked one where they could ambush her and her team without the threat of Starforce reinforcements, and it had happened to be the one above the planet she clearly _did_ know or at least knew her.

She needed answers, fast. No, she _wanted_ answers. Answers she had been craving for the past six years, but the low probability of finding them had forced her to ignore them. Now, her mind had, instead, locked the four Skrulls away. She was dead set on finding out why this world seemed to know who she was and what happened.

Because if it was true, that meant Yon-Rogg, the man who had helped her every step of the way after the accident, the man who had taught her everything he knew, both before and again after the accident, had lied to her. Was her whole life on Hala a lie? If she had been on this planet before, was she even a Kree? Every question was answered with another question, and Vers was tired of questions. She wanted answers, and she was going to get them.

And perhaps the red-headed woman could provide her with them.

“Ooh, they’re selling ice cream.”

Vers sighed. Her answers would have to wait.

She still needed to find Hanna’s parents.

* * *

“Please tell me we have an update on Kara’s location,” Alex demanded, turning the steering wheel carefully to the right as her sleek DEO issued SUV turned into the next street, “or anything on these Skrulls?”

With her mother safe at her house, which took a lot of arguing, the director of the DEO was heading back to the organization’s headquarters, where they would no doubt come up with a plan to deal with the current issue. The issue of her resurrected sister and the four aliens currently stealing black market alien weaponry.

When she had received the call to action in the early hours of the morning, she had not quite expected events to unfold the way they did. To see her sister standing in front of her with the strangest alien armor, powers like she had never seen before in her time at the DEO, a haircut that she never thought would’ve suited her and then to find out she had no memory of who she was, it was a lot for Alex to take in. 

She had always hoped to see her sister again one day. Maybe she was being naïve, but she had always believed her to be out there somewhere, trying to find her way home, but yet despite her line of work, she had never expected it to be like this. She didn’t know how to deal with this situation, and it wasn’t often that happened. Her years of experience under J’onn’s teachings and the countless attacks she had dealt with during her time at the DEO had left her prepared for anything, or so she thought. Now with her sister on the loose in the city and four extremely dangerous shapeshifters added into the mix, Alex found herself at a dead-end, and she hated dead ends.

“Unfortunately, we have nothing on the whereabouts of Supergirl,” Brainy informed, his voice speaking through the car’s comm device, “however, there was a recent attack on an alien soup kitchen in Downtown National City.”

“And that’s related to Kara and these Skrulls how?” Alex asked.

“For the past few months, the NCPD has believed this soup kitchen to be a smokescreen for its true purpose,” Brainy explained, “a black market that specializes in alien weaponry. They’ve collected plenty of evidence to corroborate this theory, however, they cannot intervene without shutting down the kitchen, which a lot of aliens in need rely on to survive. Today, however, it was attacked by four assailants.”

“Four? Like maybe the four Skrulls?”

“Correct,” Brainy replied, “they are clearly experts in infiltration. They left no trace of their presence, killed every arms dealer present, and unfortunately, a few aliens who were at the kitchen to eat. No one saw them leave-“

“So we have to assume they used people’s identities to escape,” Alex finished, “how’d we get this info?”

“The news came in from the NCPD, who themselves, got it from one of their informants.”

“Then we have to consider the possibility Kara also knows, especially if she’s… hunting them,” Alex replied, the words odd on her mouth, “that’s good work, Brainy.”

“Then you’ll be happy to know we’ve already dispatched a forensics team to the location,” Brainy revealed, “give it time, Director, and we should have a list of the items stolen.”

“Which we can use to start figuring out what they’re planning,” Alex nodded, “I’m just about to arrive at the DEO so I’ll be up in five minutes. Have the report ready for me.”

“The report will be waiting for you,” Brainy confirmed, ending the call.

Alex pulled the car into the lower depths of the DEO, the retinal scanner and the facial recognition system simultaneously scanning her features as she was allowed into the building's car park.

The car park was relatively empty, as most of the DEO agents had gone home for the night. The agents that had chosen to remain had volunteered to work on the current case, even if it meant giving up a decent night’s sleep. Committed to doing the same, Alex reached into her vehicle’s glove compartment and began digging out her I.D. badge and her pistol.

_Crunch._

Alex tensed, her hand hovering above the weapon inside the glove compartment as her hearing detected a presence outside her car. She didn’t have super hearing like Kara did, but J’onn had taught her to notice the smallest of sounds and the slightest of movements. Her years of training had perfected her senses, and those senses were telling her that someone, or something, was outside her car.

She gently pulled the pistol out of her glove compartment and slowly opened the driver’s side door, sliding out and crouching down by the car, raising her gun as she listened out for any indication of her stalker’s location. She slid to the corner of the car’s rear, peeking her head around. She couldn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. She straightened up, slowly pushing her hand into her pocket as she went to fish out her phone.

She pressed her thumb to the home screen and drew up her contacts, scrolling through as she located J’onn’s number. Her thumb hovered above the call button, ready to press drown when she heard footsteps approaching her quickly.

She threw aside the phone, quickly raising her gun as she whipped around. The weapon was knocked out of her hand with ease, and Alex could do nothing as a hand shoved against her chest and pushed her into the back of her car. She grunted in pain as the same hand pinned her in place, pressing firmly against her already bruised chest.

“Wha-“

“Who am I!?”

That voice. It was quite clearly Kara, or Vers as she was now known. Once the pain had vanished and her vision cleared, Alex could see her quite clearly. She was no longer wearing that uniform they had seen her in before. Now, she was wearing civilian clothes. Clothes that were so un-Kara-like that it was strange to see her wearing them.

She was broken out of her stupor when the hand against her chest disappeared, before quickly reappearing with what sounded like a newspaper in-between them.

“Who. Am. I?” Vers demanded.

“What?” Alex spluttered, looking down at her chest. Trapped between her chest and Kara’s hand wasn’t a newspaper, but a magazine, an old copy of the CatCo magazine to be specific.

“Who am I?” Vers repeated, “to you? You know me, that shapeshifter from that bar does and apparently, everyone on this stupid planet does. Everyone except me it seems, so tell me who I am to you, right now!”

“I- I don’t understand,” Alex replied, looking down at the magazine. Vers tore the magazine away, flicking through the pages before thrusting the old magazine in her face. The page it was opened on was one of Kara’s old ones, and her face was looking up at her from underneath the by-line, “you don’t know who you are?”

“I thought I did,” Kara snapped, “I thought I was Vers from Hala. Yet I come to this planet, people keep recognizing me, then you and your friend keep calling me Kara and then I see a statue of me, ‘cause I’m apparently dead and then after some digging, I find my face in some crap article.”

“We thought you were dead,” Alex mumbled, her eyes on the article.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Vers demanded, “tell me who I am.”

“Your… your name is Kara, Kara Danvers,” Alex revealed, looking up at her sister, who was staring at her, fists clenched, “but you were born Kara Zor-El, from the planet Krypton. When you were thirteen… your planet was destroyed. Your parents managed to send you away before it happened to look after your cousin, Kal-El. You were knocked off course, and by the time you arrived, Kal had already grown up, so you stayed with me and my parents. We adopted you.

“When Kryptonians are exposed to yellow solar radiation, they gain abilities,” Alex continued, watching as Vers processed the information, “ten years ago, you decided to use those abilities to help others, just like your cousin does, and you saved the world. Multiple times. Back in 2018, we were facing another Kryptonian, called Reign, and she was a powerful one. We struggled, but then we discovered an object called Harun-El that we could use against her. We discovered an asteroid filled with it, so you traveled to it to get it, but when you got there, you discovered a settlement of surviving Kryptonians, including your mother.

“The year after, Argo City, the settlement, picked up a strange signal. It was similar to theirs. Similar enough that they believed it to be another settlement, but it was too far away from them. Earth was closer to it, so you decided to investigate it yourself. You left in the pod you arrived in and a few days later, we lost your signal. Your cousin went to find you, but all he found-“

“Was metal and blood?” Vers interrupted, her voice quiet.

“…Yeah,” Alex nodded, “how did-“

“I thought they were dreams,” Vers snorted, “I thought they were nightmares and he told me that’s all they were. He lied to me.”

“Who did?”

“Yon-Rogg, my commanding officer. The leader of Starforce,” Vers spat, tears welling in her eyes, “I have no memory of any of that. I don’t remember ‘Krypton’. I don’t remember being on this planet, or being a hero. I don’t remember being Kara Danvers, or Kara Zor-El. I don’t remember anything from that accident. I- I don’t know who I am! Yon-Rogg told me that I was born on Hala. He told me I was Kree, and I had been a member of Starforce since I was old enough to join. He told me that six years ago, we had been engaging in a battle against the Skrulls and I got onto their ship. He told me I destroyed it, and I was badly injured and when I woke up, I had no memory of who I was, so he told me who I was, but apparently they were all lies!”

She cried the last part, clutching her head, “he lied to me. Everything that I knew was a lie. I don’t know who I am.”

For the first time since encountering Vers, Alex was finally starting to see bits of Kara slipping through.

“You’re Kara Danvers,” Alex replied, stepping forwards, “you’re the woman who risked her life so many times to save the people of this planet, to do the right thing, and you didn’t even owe it to them. You’re my sister, and you were there for me when I needed you, even when I treated you like crap. You were the most powerful person I knew, even before you could shoot… whatever it is from your fists.”

Stepping right into Vers’ space, Alex slowly wrapped her arms around the shorter woman and pulled. She could feel Vers tense, unsure how to react to the embrace from this stranger-yet-sister, but after a few seconds, Vers surprised herself as she allowed herself to relax and melt into the embrace.

“It’s okay,” Alex replied softly, “you’re back.”


	5. Chapter 4

As Vers began to stir, she became aware of the voices she could hear nearby. They were faint, muffled by the wall that separated them, but she could hear them nonetheless. They were talking about her. Discussing what she had revealed to that red-headed woman… Alex down in the lower floors, and discussing what to do with her. Alex seemed to be arguing in her favor, but the shapeshifter from the bar, J’onn, seemed to be wary of her. However, his doubts seemed to have no effect as Alex shot down his claims.

Alex. Who is her sister, apparently.

The revelation that the life she thought she had was a complete lie, and that the man she called her closest friend had lied to her about everything had been overwhelming. It made her question everything Starforce had led her to believe. The ideals they taught her, the stories Yon-Rogg had told her about the Skrulls when she woke from her accident. Were they all lies? Had they ever told her the truth?

Had she ever meant anything to them? Or had she just been their weapon to use against the Skrulls?

And this life she had lived before the accident. How was she supposed to comprehend all that? She was apparently part of a small number of survivors from a dead planet. She was apparently a hero on C-53, or Earth, as Alex had called it. She had a life, and people who cared about her, who mourned for her all whilst Yon-Rogg had lied to her and manipulated her. Whilst she had been living a lie on Hala, the people who cared about her had been grieving for her, they had missed her.

It was enough to make her feel sick.

“You’re awake. That’s good.”

The male voice took Vers by surprise, and she jerked her head to the left to see a short man stood by a computer screen of sorts, tapping away on the device which showed what looked like an analysis of her condition. His jaw-length black hair was obscuring his face, but he was clearly talking to her.

“It’s no wonder you’re tired. You’ve been exerting yourself all day,” the man continued, “you never stopped to rest or get sustenance. Plus, the mental exhaustion you’ve just experienced and crashing from orbit didn’t help either but I’m surprised it took you this long to crash.”

“Who are you?” Vers demanded.

“I am Braniac 5, although you can call me Brainy,” Brainy introduced himself, walking over to Vers as she pushed herself up off the medical bed, “and you are Vers, I have been told.”

“You’re a Coluan,” Vers stated.

Brainy frowned, “…yes, I was not aware you would be aware of my species but I am a Coluan.”

“We have a few Coluans on Hala,” Vers revealed, sitting up in the bed, “a few work for Starforce. They work on our gear. And your image inducer is primitive. I can see right through it.”

“Fascinating,” Brainy smiled, “you must tell me more about this Hala when you can. It is not a planet I am familiar with, and being a twelfth level intellect as well as a former member of the Legion from the far future, it is uncommon for me to be unaware of a planet.”

“Did you know me? Before…” she trailed off, “before my accident.”

“I did. We used to work together, but as you have no memory of our time together, I thought it best to reintroduce myself once you woke up,” Brainy explained, adding, “which I did.”

Vers nodded, looking around the room. It was white, very white. Extremely clean and full of what Vers assumed was medical equipment. She was in a medical bay. She had spent enough time in them on Hala to recognize one when she saw it, much to Yon-Rogg’s chagrin.

“You’re inside the DEO,” Brainy revealed, noting her curiosity, “the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. A military force tasked with protecting the innocent from extra-terrestrial threats. You used to work here as Supergirl. We brought you here when you started to show signs of fatigue and we decided to let you rest after the long day you’ve had. It’s not every day someone goes through the revelation you’ve been through.”

“Where’s that woman… Alex?” Vers asked.

“Director Danvers? She is currently talking to J’onn about what you revealed to her,” Brainy explained, “they’re worried about you.”

“Aside from the shapeshifter.”

Brainy nodded, “J’onn does have his… doubts, but he was once the director of this place. It comes with the territory; I believe the saying is.”

Vers nodded and pushed herself off the medical bed. She stumbled slightly, and Brainy reached across to steady her.

“Careful, Vers,” Brainy fretted, “you haven’t fully recovered from your fatigue. Here, drink this.”

He turned to the small table beside him and handed her a small cup. It was filled with a light blue liquid, and what looked like particles floating around the base. She looked at Brainy, eyebrow raised.

“It’s just water,” Brainy stated, “as I said, you never stopped to eat or drink. You’re severely dehydrated, and no doubt hungry. Even someone with your abilities needs to stop every now and then.”

“Who’s hungry?”

The voice came from the door, and Brainy and Vers turned to watch Alex walk into the medical bay. She was holding a small box in one hand and an electronic device in the other. She passed the device to Brainy, whilst holding out the box to Vers.

“It’s just a sandwich,” she explained, “there wasn’t a lot left in the canteen, but I grabbed you what I could. Brainy said you hadn’t stopped to rest, and unless it’s one of the things about you that’s changed, you must be starving.”

Vers took the package and looked it over. It wasn’t like any food they had on Hala, but that didn’t mean it looked unappetizing. She peeled open the package and took one of the triangle portions out. She took a small bite, conscious of the gazes on her. It was decent, but it would do, so she took a bigger bite.

“Are we sure it’s them?”

Brainy’s voice pulled her attention. He was staring at the device, eyes skimming the words.

“What is it?” Vers asked, mouth full, “is it the Skrulls? Have you found them?”

She snatched the device out of Brainy’s hands, surprising the Coluan as she flicked through the notes. It was about a recent energy surge near the city’s coast. A constant pulse, each one a different length with a longer period of time between. She knew what it was the moment she saw it. If she hadn’t, she would’ve surrendered her uniform the moment she saw Yon-Rogg again, once she’d knocked him on his ass.

“Possibly,” Alex replied, “we haven’t been able to determine what it is yet. Possibly the build-up of a bomb, or a signal. We’ve got our top analysts working on it. Once we know what it is, we’ll-“

“It’s the Skrulls,” Vers confirmed, cutting Alex off as she handed back the device.

“How can you be sure?” Alex asked, looking back down at the notes to identify whatever it was she might’ve missed.

“It’s not an energy pulse,” Vers explained, “it _is_ a signal. They’re contacting their homeworld.”

“What kind of signal?” Brainy asked, “it’s not like any I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen most.”

“That’s because you wouldn’t,” Vers replied, “only those who have studied the code can understand it. Yon-Rogg made me study it for days before I finally learned the language. It’s a form of communication created by the Skrulls that encodes text as sequences of different signal durations. It took Starforce a while to finally learn what it was because it was so primitive compared to the Skrull’s usual technology.”

“Similar to Morse Code then?” Brainy stated.

“I have no idea what that is but sure,” Vers shrugged, “they’re desperate, as they don’t use it as often since Starforce cracked it. They clearly don’t know I’m on this planet. They wouldn’t use it otherwise.”

“Which we can use to our advantage,” Alex confirmed, “It’s coming from a small warehouse in the industrial estate near the city’s port. I’ll start putting a squad together-“

Vers nodded, “I’ll be going with you.”

“That’s not happening,” Alex argued, “you’re exhausted. You’ll be at risk.”

“It’s happening. You’re not my commanding officer, and I don’t take orders from you,” Vers replied, “and you don’t know the Skrulls, Alex, not like I do. They are smart. They are dangerous and they will not hesitate to use every trick they know to kill you. They will kill you the way they know you fear the most. There’s a reason they chose a warehouse.”

“Enough cover?” Brainy suggested.

“Exactly,” Vers agreed, “they take one look at you and they can make themselves look and sound exactly like you. You can’t split up, because they’ll pick you off. You can’t group together, because they can get you all at once, and they’ve got the weaponry to do it. Don’t underestimate the Skrulls, Alex. You’ll lose. If I’m with you, you’ll have a chance. Do you have any scanners capable of identifying a shapeshifter?”

“No,” Alex shook her head, “Brainy’s been trying for a long time-“

“But it’s not easy,” Brainy added.

“Another reason you’ll need me,” Vers replied, “my gauntlet can identify shapeshifters at close range. Letting me lead the mission is your best option.”

Alex looked at Brainy in silent questioning.

“She has years of experience fighting these aliens,” Brainy conceded, “she knows of their techniques, their tactics and the best ways to fight them. Leaving her behind would be a tactical mistake. And I may be able to mimic her scanner’s abilities given time.”

Alex sighed, nodding, “where’s this uniform of yours?”

Vers lifted them hem of her shirt slightly to reveal the device that held her uniform. She tapped the gold emblem and it glowed as the Kree uniform slowly morphed its way over her form. Once the suit had completed its formation, Vers tapped her gauntlet’s screen in a precise formation and the screen came to life.

“Fascinating,” Brainy observed, “what does it do to your pre-existing clothes?”

“It stores it inside the suit,” Vers gestured to the gold star on her chest, “the same way it does with my uniform when I’m not using it.”

“This Hala sounds more and more appealing to me the more you talk about its people,” Brainy replied, “tell me-“

“Another time, Brainy,” Alex stopped his excitement, “we need to get ready. Is there anything you need?”

“All I need is to find these Skrulls.”

The trio walked out of the medical bay and into the hallway. The walls of the hallway were much different from those of the medical bay, Vers noted. Gone were the pristine white walls. Now, they were a dark shade of grey, with the edges surrounded by metal, no doubt to protect the building’s integrity in the event of an attack. There were a few DEO agents walking through the corridor, some with folders, some carrying weapons, and some in their civvies, headed home after a long day of work. A few agents broke rank as they gawked at Vers as she walked past. A quick glare from Alex forced them back to work.

As they walked into the DEO’s Central Room, J’onn was busy at work. He was stood in front of the large monitors, communicating with the agents at the helm as he looked up at the screens. The screens were showing a 3D rendering of the warehouse, as well as the schematics and history of the building. From what Vers could see, it was an old building but still used. It hadn’t been refurbished in decades, which presented an advantage for Vers, but a disadvantage for the DEO. She could drop the building on the Skrulls, but she’d also drop it on the agents.

“J’onn,” Alex called out, “is a team prepping?”

“Eight agents are getting ready as we speak,” J’onn nodded, walking to the trio. He looked at Vers, assessing her before nodding, “it’s good to have you back.”

“Thank you,” Vers nodded, noting the hollowness behind his words, “and I’m sorry… for what happened at the bar.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” J’onn replied, “you were doing your job, which we’re going to help you with, and once we’re done… we’re going to see what we can do about bringing back your memories.”

Vers frowned, looking at Alex, “you can do that?”

“You already know J’onn is a shapeshifter,” Alex nodded, “but he’s from Mars, Vers. A Green Martian, and they’re capable of telepathy. He can read minds, wipe them if he wants to, but he can also bring back memories.”

“And you think it will work for me?”

“We can’t know for sure, but it’s the best option right now,” Alex answered, “once we’ve dealt with the Skrulls, we can look into more options.”

“Until then, Skrulls come first,” Vers agreed, “we need to decide on a plan of attack. I could tell you how Starforce operates, but I’m unfamiliar with the layout of the area, and our techniques may not work here. You know this city more than me, so what do you suggest.”

“Well, the warehouse has five points of entry,” Alex replied, “three regular doors and two shutters. There are windows, but they’re all above ground level, so no possibility of escape- unless the Skrulls can jump really high, then that opens up a lot more problems.”

“The Skrulls are a lot faster and stronger than Terrans, but no, they can’t jump up several floors,” Vers shook her head.

“Right,” Alex nodded, “there’s also a storage basement, but the owners don’t use it as often. It could provide a surprise entry point for a small group of agents, but there’s one problem with it.”

“No point of entry?”

“No, there is one, but not unless we go through the sewers and blow a hole through the floor,” Alex denied, “and I feel like the Skrulls would notice something like that.”

“Agreed,” Vers nodded, “and I can guarantee those five entry points will be armed with either some form of sensory equipment or explosive. The Skrulls are always thorough with where they’re hiding. They won’t just be sitting exposed. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the weaponry they stole is serving as traps for any unwelcome guests.”

“Well, as you said, they don’t know you’re here,” Alex agreed, “that’s the key here.”

“Skrulls can morph into your appearance just by glancing at you,” Vers revealed, “but they don’t gain memories. At Starforce, every member has their own unique code that changes after every mission. I recommend you either get your soldiers to find a fact about themselves to use as a code or make up a code system. If one of you is compromised, we need to be able to figure it out.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded, “anything else about the Skrulls we should know before going in?”

“Not really,” Vers shook her head, “that’s all there really is. Just don’t underestimate them.”

Alex shrugged, “okay, so, four Skrulls. So for our team? Me, you and J’onn, but who else? How many agents do you think will be necessary for us to take on four Skrulls?”

“Well, to be honest, I could take them on myself with ease,” Vers smirked, “but I’m guessing you won’t allow that.”

“You would be right,” Alex shrugged, “the last thing the DEO needs is the public becoming aware of a possible intergalactic war.”

“How long does it take for your agents to get ready?”

“Five minutes,” Alex replied, “I’ll brief them on the situation.”

Alex headed off to get together the team, leaving Vers and J’onn behind at the terminals. The two stood awkwardly, silence filling the air as they became unsure of what to say to each other. Vers peeked at the terminal screens, taking in their contents as J’onn rubbed his bruised chest. He was glaring at her, and he wasn’t being subtle about it. She sighed before speaking.

“You don’t trust me,” Vers deduced, turning her attention to J’onn.

“You haven’t given me a reason to,” J’onn replied.

“And me looking like Kara doesn’t?” Vers asked, “or our timelines matching up. She died six years ago; I lost my memory six years ago. It seems a bit obvious.”

“You wouldn’t be the first doppelgänger of Kara we’ve encountered, Vers,” J’onn argued, “in Kara’s first year as Supergirl, she literally fought an unstable clone. She’s even fought a fascist version of herself from a parallel universe.”

Vers shrugged, “and you think I’m like them?”

“I think you could be another clone, created by Maxwell Lord or Lillian Luthor, who was sent to infiltrate the DEO,” J’onn answered, “or another doppelgänger who became aware of our universe. I mean, your story? How do we know it’s not just that, a story. You had an accident six years ago; you joined an alien military group called ‘Starforce’ and you happen to have no memory of your life before those six years. It’s the perfect bait. We think you’re Kara, we let you back in, let our guards down and then you strike. We never see it coming.”

“Well if you’re so sure, J’onn” Vers shrugged, “read my mind. You’re a telepath. Look into my head and find out.”

“I can’t. I tried the moment you attacked me in the bar,” J’onn revealed.

“You didn’t say that earlier when Alex told me you’re telepathic.”

“That’s because I didn’t want to get her hopes up,” J’onn argued, “Alex was devastated when Kara died, and I’m not letting some woman wearing her face ruin Kara’s legacy. It took her ages to get back to where she is now.”

“You seemed pretty sure I was this morning,” Vers countered.

“That’s because I hoped you were, but that was before I saw all of the destruction you caused and the violence you inflicted on others to get what you want. Innocent alien refugees were beaten for information in a place where they can feel safe,” J’onn fired back, “the Kara we know would never do that. She inspired hope, she didn't instill fear.”

“Okay, well invading my privacy aside, I don’t care,” Vers scoffed, “you don’t believe me? Tough. I have more important things to deal with right now, and I’ve been looking for answers for six years, J’onn. I can wait a few more hours. Once this is over, then I’ll get answers, from you, Alex and Yon-Rogg. Now I have no memory of this place or any of you. Just some familiarities and a bunch of weird statues with my face on it across the city. Whether you believe me or not, I don’t care, but I know the reason you and Alex are so hell-bent on figuring out my identity is so you can know if I’m really Kara, but let me tell you this, whatever those answers are, I’m not her. And if I was, not anymore. Right now, you and Alex are my means to an end to kill those Skrulls. Once this is all dealt with, we’ll move on from there.”

“Is everything okay?”

Vers snapped her head to the left, zeroing in on the voice’s owner. Alex was approaching, her eyes flicking between the two of them as their argument came to an end. She could see the differentiating looks in her eyes. For J’onn, there was the hidden ‘are you okay?’ that she had seen in her team’s eyes many times, but for her, she could see wariness, the type you used on a possible enemy. Her hand was on her waist, a bit too close to her holster for Vers’ liking.

“Everything’s fine, Alex,” J’onn raised his hands, “we were just talking.”

“Yeah, ‘talking’,” Vers scoffed, “look, just tell me when you’re ready to leave. I'm sure you'll be able to find me.”

Vers turned on her heel, stalking off and leaving the two behind.

“What the hell was that about?” Alex hissed, removing her hand from her holster, “why were you two arguing?”

“I’m sorry, Alex,” J’onn apologized, “I… I don’t trust her.”

“How can you not trust her? Look at her,” Alex snapped, “she’s Kara.”

“Is she?” J’onn argued, “are we certain that is your sister?”

“She looks just like her, J’onn,” Alex replied, “their timeline’s match up.”

“Come on, Alex. Don’t be naïve,” J’onn countered, “Lord Tech, CADMUS, Merlyn Global. Three companies that could easily exploit Supergirl’s absence, especially Lord and Lillian. I mean, Lord has done it before.”

“Why can’t you just trust _me_?”

“I do trust you,” J’onn replied, “it’s her. Look, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that is your sister, but until we know for sure, we cannot treat her like Kara. She’s dangerous, Alex. You’ve seen what she can do. That energy that she uses as a weapon. I’ve never seen anything like that before, not even when I was the head of the DEO. She’s been going around National City attacking people left, right and center and we’re allowing her to walk about the DEO like she owns the place.”

“So what? You’re saying we should lock her up?”

J’onn sighed, “…maybe,” he shrugged, “but that’s the thing, Alex. I don’t think we’d be able to even if we tried.”

“Look, I get where you’re coming from, but what if she is Kara?” Alex asked, “she’s vulnerable right now, J’onn. You didn’t see her in the parking lot. She was distressed. She has no idea who she really is now. What if we treat her as the enemy and it pushes her away. She could find out she _is_ Kara and want nothing to do with us because of how we treated her,” Alex sighed, “there’s nothing we can do right now. Once we’ve dealt with these Skrulls, we can look into Kara’s mind and help her get her memories.”

J’onn shook his head, “that won’t be possible.”

“Why not?” Alex frowned.

“Because I can’t read her mind,” J’onn replied, “I tried earlier. I can’t get through.”

Alex paled, “so what can we do? Do we just show her things and hope she’ll remember?”

“Unfortunately, that may not be possible, Director Danvers.”

Brainy’s voice interrupted their conversation, and Alex turned to see the Coluan of the DEO. He was holding a tablet in his hand, and the look on his face broadcast bad news.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“When you brought Vers in,” Brainy started, “the medical staff couldn’t get a blood sample from her. Her skin was impenetrable, and not even our red Sun lamps did anything. So I decided to opt for another form of DNA testing.”

“The drink?” Alex realized, “the drink you gave her.”

“Correct,” Brainy nodded, “I took her DNA from the cup after she finished it and ran it through the DEO database, cross-referencing the results with Kara's old DNA file.”

“And?” J’onn asked.

“She has Kryptonian DNA in her system,” Brainy revealed, “that is certain, …but not entirely, it seems.”

“What do you mean ‘not entirely’?” J’onn frowned.

“Take a look at her results,” he passed the tablet over to Alex, who looked through the results, “it appears that she is Kryptonian, but there’s something else in her. Her DNA seems to have been spliced with that of another species.”

“What species?” Alex asked.

“Well, that’s the thing. We don't know,” Brainy revealed, “I’ve never seen anything like this but the worst part is? The foreign DNA that seems to have been combined with the Kryptonian DNA? She’s more… whatever that is than Kryptonian.”

“So you’re telling me she could be an imposter? Some kind of hybrid?” Alex muttered, “shit, J'onn. I think you might be right.”

“It seems whatever or whoever Vers may be,” Brainy theorized, “there _is_ a chance she may have been created. Lillian Luthor took some of Kara’s blood once, I read the mission report. Perhaps she still had some and has been working on this ever since. But I cannot be certain until I have done more testing. For all I know, we could be completely wrong.”

“But CADMUS has all kinds of access to aliens that the DEO is unaware of,” J’onn argued, "I agree that we need to perform more tests to be certain but the evidence does seem to be pointing to her being an imposter."

“So there's a chance that she could be either a manmade clone, mixed with foreign DNA to make her stronger,” Alex nodded, “or an alien who was subjected to experimentation, combining their DNA with Kara’s and manipulating their appearance to look like her,” she finished, her voice resigned, “you said earlier that she was talking to someone on that device of hers?”

“Yes,” J’onn nodded, “I wasn’t able to see who she was talking to, though.”

“Dammit,” Alex sighed, “okay, I hate to say this but we have to assume she… that she could be a threat.”

“What are we going to do?” J’onn asked.

Alex paused, thinking as she debated her options, “back at the dive bar, she was incapacitated when she was hit with a taser disk. It didn’t do much to her, but it did stop her momentarily. What if we hit her with more than one?”

“Theoretically, it could work, but we cannot be sure,” Brainy nodded.

“I don’t know,” J’onn shook his head, “the energy she uses as a weapon, it’s dangerous. At the dive bar, almost anything made of metal was virtually melted. Even the weapons.”

“Do we know what form of energy it is?” Alex asked.

“Not right now,” Brainy shook his head, “also, that suit of hers is advanced, far more so than anything we have at the DEO. If it can detect shapeshifters with ease, it’s very likely we’ll be unable to get the drop on her. We must go about this very carefully.”

“I have an idea, but it might not be a good one,” Alex suggested.

“What is it?”

“What if I were to talk to her?” she proposed.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Alex,” J’onn replied, “if she realizes we're on to her, she could attack you.”

“Maybe, but it’s better than us outright attacking her,” Alex countered, “she probably could’ve attacked us all the moment she woke up. But she came to us. She came to me. If we try to talk to her, she might be willing to listen, but if we attack her, she might never trust us, and what if we're wrong? What if, somehow, she is Kara?” We could lose any chance of reconnecting with her."

“I believe Director Danvers may have a point,” Brainy added, “using a peaceful option first may be the better course of action. However, should it fail, then we can resort to less peaceful options.”

J’onn relented, nodding, “okay.”

“Where is she?” Alex asked, turning around. She saw Agent Susan Vasquez, sat at her terminal, “Susan?”

The agent in question turned around, looking for her summoner. She saw Alex, and she rushed over, “yes, ma’am?”

“Have you seen Ka- Vers anywhere?”

“Vers? Not since her conversation with J’onn,” Susan shook her head, “why?”

“We need to talk to her,” Alex answered, “we believe… we believe she isn’t who she says she is. Sweep the cameras so we can-”

“Ma’am!” a voice screamed out, cutting off their conversation, “Director Danvers!”

The cry alerted every agent in the room, all spinning to the owner of the voice. It was a youngish agent, jogging out of the hallway. He was panting, clearly out of breath and he was covered from head to toe in rubble.

“What happened?” Alex asked, jogging over. She looked him up and down, examining him for visible injuries, “are you hurt?”

“No, ma’am,” the agent shook his head, “it’s Supergirl.”

Alex tensed, “what about her?”

“She’s gone,” the agent revealed, “one moment she was just walking down the corridor in front of me and then she just shot up into the air. She tore through the ceiling and through the roof. She’s gone, ma’am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! 
> 
> So Alex and the team believe that Vers could be an imposter, rather than the real deal, basically. I wanted to find a way to create some tension between Vers and the others and out of all the scenarios I tried to write, I felt like this one was the one that worked. I felt like it made sense for Alex and the team to be a bit wary of Vers, especially after seeing her DNA results, because being an intelligence organization, I didn't think it would make sense for them to welcome her with open arms. After seeing Vers' odd DNA, I felt it would make sense for them to suddenly doubt Vers' story.


	6. Chapter 5

Cosmic energy was not the only thing flowing through Vers’ veins as she soared across National City. She streaked across the skyline, leaving a trail of wisping energy in her wake as anger filled her mind and her heart. She knew she was being reckless. Traveling this way wasn’t exactly covert, and word could easily find its way to the Skrulls of her presence in the city, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She was already feeling betrayed by Yon-Rogg, after the realization that he and the rest of Starforce had been lying to her, but then she had overheard Alex, J’onn and the Coluan talking about locking her up, and their ridiculous notion that she was a clone of the woman they knew. She knew she wasn’t a clone. Starforce lying to her or not, she had spent the last six years on Hala, dedicating her life to protecting people from the Skrulls. She had been living in an apartment that overlooked the main city. Yet, they didn’t know that, and they had so readily accepted the idea that she was sent by their enemies.

She sighed. Logically, as a soldier herself, she understood why they didn’t trust her. She was wearing the face of someone they loved who had been dead for six years, yet despite the likeness, she acted nothing like her. She was a stranger to them, as they were to her. But she still couldn’t help but be angry. She had gone to them, yet they hadn’t hesitated to turn on her. She wasn’t surprised that Martian hadn’t trusted her, but she thought that Alex would have a bit more faith. But she thought wrong.

She didn’t hesitate to leave the DEO. She knew there was nothing they could’ve done to stop her, and with the way she felt at the moment, part of her wanted to hit something, but there was no benefit in fighting the DEO right now. And if they didn’t trust her, then there was no point in her staying any longer. And as poor as Alex’s plan to take her out with those ‘taser disks’ was, Vers would much rather not be on the receiving end of one of those again. They hadn’t hurt, but they were a nuisance.

The only thing she could do right now was dealing with the Skrulls.

She was unfamiliar with the city’s layout, but it wasn’t exactly difficult to learn. Hovering far above the city’s tallest skyscraper, she could easily make out the spider’s web that made up the city’s roads quite easily, all which led to the center of the city below her. Compared to the city Vers lived in on Hala, National City was tiny. The buildings had nothing on the ones on Hala. The apartment building she lived in was taller than the city’s tallest building alone.

Still, it was good for her to get used to her surroundings, and the device on her wrist was the perfect tool to do so. Vers tapped the screen on her gauntlet, pulling up the blank map and pressing a small little button. Before it showed nothing but dozens of multi-colored dots, showing the lifeforms in the city, but then the map came to life, creating a small holographic recreation of the city in seconds. It extended outwards, including the housing areas that surrounded the city, the highways that provided an entrance and an exit and the city’s large industrial estate. She enlarged the hologram, bringing it closer to her face. The larger it got, the clearer she could see. The thousands of small little red dots that had been crawling across the blank map now moved along the rendered roads, with the occasional yellow dots, representing both the city’s Terran and alien population. The holographic buildings were lit up like Christmas trees, but they weren’t the buildings Vers was focused on. Pinching together her fingers, she dragged the map across, wiping away some of the maps as it formed more of the city. The city’s port came into view, showing a collection of warehouses surrounded by cargo containers and large ships. There were no signs of Terran life in the area. In fact, there was no sign of life at all.

The Skrulls were gone.

Panic quickly overwhelmed Vers’ system, and she quickly wiped away the map and shot off in the direction of the city port, flying over the warehouses and cargo containers until she zeroed in on the one building she was looking for. She didn’t slow down during her descent. Instead, she aimed herself directly at the ground, landing on the concrete with a loud bang that sent a shockwave around the port, rattling the nearby containers. She grabbed the door handle, yanking the door open whilst tearing the handle off. She stormed inside; fist raised as she prepared to strike…

Yon-Rogg and the team.

The leader of her Starforce unit turned to face her, eyebrows raised as she bashfully lowered her fist. She looked behind him. Att-Lass and Bron-Char were neatly laying out the four deceased Skrulls, whilst Minn-Erva prepared Starforce’s potently acidic blue formula, which would be used to break down the Skrulls’ bodies, leaving no trace. Minn-Erva looked up at Vers, flashing her a brief smile before returning to her work. Korath was busy at work dismantling a crudely made device, which Vers could only assume was the origin of the signal. Lastly, her eyes flicked back to Yon-Rogg, and her anger flared back up.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Yon-Rogg commented, smirking, “verify?”

“GRVX-1600,” Vers growled, “verify?”

“CTC-39,” Yon-Rogg answered, “so this is C-53, then? It’s… primitive, but not the worst planet we’ve been to, right?”

His attempt at a joke fell flat, and the team looked up at their exchange awkwardly when Vers didn’t respond. Yon-Rogg’s smirk faltered, becoming a frown as he took in Vers’ demeanor. Her fists were still clenched, and glowing ever so slightly.

“How are you here so early?” Vers asked, trying to keep her voice as level as possible, “I wasn’t expecting you for a few more hours.”

“We took a risk and landed on an asteroid not far out from this system,” Yon-Rogg revealed, “it took him some time, but Att-Lass was able to get the jump drive working again, saving us some considerable journey time. I wanted to get here as quickly as possible.”

“And you didn’t think to call?” Vers asked, “to let me know in advance that you would be arriving earlier? Or that you had already dealt with the Skrulls?”

Yon-Rogg scoffed, done with her attitude, “we tried to contact you, but we couldn’t get through to you, and to be fair, Vers, when we arrived, I had expected for them to already be ‘dealt with’, so imagine my surprise when we entered this system and discovered the Skrulls were broadcasting an SOS.”

“And I hadn’t expected to find out you’ve been lying to me for the last six years, but I guess today is full of surprises, Yon.”

The mood in the room changed and the air became tense as Att-Lass, Minn-Erva, Bron-Char, and Korath froze where they were. Even Yon-Rogg’s annoyed expression morphed into one of confusion, whilst Vers didn’t take her eyes of Yon-Rogg.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m talking about the fact that you’ve all been lying to me about who I was for the past six years,” Vers revealed, shooting daggers at her teammates.

“Vers-“

“Don’t ‘Vers’ me!” Vers snapped, raising her hand to stop Yon-Rogg as he attempted to approach her, “I mean, Vers isn’t even my real name, is it?”

Yon-Rogg sighed, nodding his head before revealing, “…no, you’re right. It isn’t.”

Vers blinked, caught off guard by the sudden admittance of his lies. She had kind of expected him to put up more of a fight, “oh.”

“Look, Vers,” he approached, “we should talk.”

“Yeah, we should,“ Vers nodded, “you owe me that-“

“Outside,” he added, “I’ll… I’ll tell you everything you want to know. I promise, but it would be better if we did this in private.”

“Good,” Vers nodded, “and you better not lie to me, Yon. I want the truth. I deserve it. You owe me that.”

“You’re right,” he admitted, “please. Let’s go outside,” he gestured to the open doorway, “and we can talk,” he turned to the team, “continue your work.”

The two of them stepped outside, with Yon-Rogg gently closing the door as Vers walked towards away from the warehouse. There was a considerable distance between them, one that felt odd to both of them. For the past six years, the two of them had had a mentor/mentee relationship, and Vers had looked up to Yon-Rogg. Now, she wanted to be stood far away from him as she could.

“Talk. Now,” she demanded.

“May I at least ask how you found out,” Yon-Rogg requested.

Vers clicked her tongue, “fine,” she took a deep breath, “it started the moment I crashed here. I had no idea where I was. I didn’t know what planet I was on, or even what system I was in. I couldn’t reach you, or the others, as my gauntlet was damaged. I needed supplies to fix it, so I spoke to a local law enforcement officer. At the time, I didn’t think anything of how weird he was acting when he talked to me, but now I know. He recognized me. I tried to think nothing of it, but then I was at this establishment that provides alcohol for aliens. I was trying to locate the Skrulls when I encountered this man. A shapeshifter, and-“

“A shapeshifter? Was he a Skrull?” Yon-Rogg interrupted.

“No, he wasn’t,” Vers replied, “Skrulls aren’t the only shapeshifters, Yon. He’s a Martian, apparently, but he knew me. I had seen him following me throughout the city but I had assumed he was an officer of the law, but he called me ‘Kara’, and told me that I was supposed to be dead. I tried to find out more from him when I was attacked by a team of soldiers trained to fight aliens. They were led by a woman who also knew me, but I left, only to overhear her call me her sister.

“I tried to do as you said and focus on the mission, but I couldn’t,” Vers admitted, “all I could think about was the fact that people all across this city were recognizing me. I was in the heart of the city when I came across this little girl wearing a strange outfit. She told me she was going to visit ‘Supergirl’ in a park. She had no parents with her, so I decided to stay with her to keep her safe and she took me to this ‘Supergirl’. But ‘Supergirl’ wasn’t a person, Yon. She was a statue. A statue of me, who had died six years ago, at the same time as my accident with the Skrulls that made me lose my memory.

“So I’m sorry but I dropped my mission with the Skrulls because I had to find answers,” Vers’ voice began to ooze sarcasm as her anger flared, “because surely, I couldn’t have had a life here, Yon. Surely, I couldn’t have had a sister, because I’m not from this planet. I’m from Hala, or so you told me. So I investigated. I found an establishment that lets you search this planet’s online servers and I looked up this ‘Supergirl’. Not only was I was apparently a soldier of some kind, but I concealed my identity with another, and when I wasn’t being ‘Supergirl’, I was ‘Kara Danvers’, and I wrote the news. Now, I’ve told you what I’ve learned. Now it’s your turn to talk, Yon. Tell me why you’ve been lying to me all these years. Tell me how I ended up on Hala when I apparently had a life here, and a family who loved me because I really want to know. So I hope you something to say because I’m all ears?”

“I do,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “I’m… I’m so happy for you.”

His answer caught Vers off guard, and she blinked at him owlishly as he waited for her response. She had been expecting a big reveal behind his lies or some elaborate excuse that Yon-Rogg had spent six years perfecting should she ever discover the truth. She had expected her entire world to be flipped upside down, but this? Telling her that he’s happy for her? It was the one thing she had not expected him to say when she imagined all of the ways this conversation would go in her head. Most of the scenarios in her imagination ended with the two of them duking it out. Her anger fizzled as she responded.

“You… you are?”

“Of course I am,” Yon-Rogg replied, “why wouldn’t I be? Vers, all I have ever wanted for you is for you to regain your memories.”

“Then why lie to me, after all these years?”

“Because… because it wasn’t that simple,” Yon-Rogg replied, “but I told you I would tell you everything, so I will.”

Vers nodded.

“Six years ago,” he began, “the Supreme Intelligence detected Skrull activity on the outskirts of our galaxy, further than we’ve ever seen them go. Naturally, we were worried. Skrulls don’t tend to venture that far away from their strongholds out of fear of stretching themselves thin, so for them to go out there, we knew it must’ve been serious. We were dispatched immediately to locate the Skrulls and figure out what they were doing when we came across a battle. The Skrulls were attacking a small pod-like vessel.”

He tapped a button on his own wrist gauntlet, and a large holographic screen filled the air as a video began to play. It was from Yon-Rogg’s suit, coming from a built-in body-cam that was laced to the Starforce emblem on his chest. He was inside his ship, along with the team. She could see the Skrulls’ ship through the grainy footage of the window, doing exactly what Yon-Rogg had said, attacking a small vessel. He paused the video right as the small pod shot past the window of their ship, showing the small ship in detail.

“Is that me?” Vers asked.

“Yes,” Yon-Rogg confirmed, pressing play and resuming the video. As Vers watched the action continue to unfold, he continued his story, “we tried to help you, but we had arrived too late. The battle was happening above a small, unpopulated planet and the Skrulls managed to disable your vessel. You got caught in the planet’s gravity and fell to the surface. We chased after you, but they had managed to reach you first. By the time we reached you, you were already fighting them by yourself.”

He suddenly dragged his finger across the video, and it sped forward, flicking through the events until he found the point he was looking for. The video now showed him and the team disembarking from their ship, guns raised as they stormed after the Skrulls. In the distance, she could see what looked like red beams of energy tearing through the air, with smoke rising into the atmosphere.

“What we saw next was absolutely astonishing, Vers,” Yon-Rogg admitted, “you were single handily taking on eight Skrulls, and their weapons seemed to be doing no damage to you whatsoever.”

He pinched the video, zooming in and Vers found herself face to face with a holographic depiction of herself. She was wearing the exact same outfit that she was on the statue, and her eyes were bright red as the beams of energy were firing from them. She was bleeding from the head, and her suit was heavily damaged, but that didn’t seem to stop her as she struck forward at an approaching Skrull, sending him flying back against the wall of the Skrulls’ own ship.

“Still, we came to help, but our presence and the damage you were inflicting seemed to spook the Skrulls,” he continued, “they tried to retreat, but you fired… whatever that was coming from your eyes at their ship. I’m sure you didn’t intend to, but you hit exactly where their ship’s energy core was. You took out the ship and the Skrulls with it, but you were caught in the blast yourself.”

Vers watched as the video became a blinding white light, before coming face to face with dirt as Yon-Rogg’s video counterpart ducked for cover. She could hear the team shouting to each other, and Yon-Rogg giving out his own orders, but she was more interested in what happened next.

“What happened?”

He wiped away the video, “you were at the epicenter of the blast. To be completely honest, Vers, we didn’t expect you to have survived. Once the explosion had died down, we headed over to destroy whatever evidence of the Skrulls _had_ survived. Nothing had, except you. Whatever it is that gave you the ability to be invulnerable stopped that blast from killing you, but it did injure you. You were unconscious and you had lost a lot of blood. We didn’t have the proper supplies to treat you on our ship, so we had no other choice but to take you to Hala.

“We had never met your species before, so we had no idea where you were from or what you were. Starforce’s medical unit couldn’t do anything for you right away because your skin was stopping them from doing any tests to help you. All we knew was that somehow when the blast hit you, your cells were irradiated with the same cosmic energy that powers the Skrulls’ ships. Att-Lass had to modify one of our power dampening collars we use on Skrull prisoners for you because every time your body crashed; you would begin to expel cosmic energy, and the medical team couldn’t touch you when you did that.”

“So how did I survive?”

“Your skin was impenetrable, and there was nothing we could do for you, but as your body continued to succumb to its injuries, whatever it was in your body that allowed your skin to be that way stopped,” Yon-Rogg revealed, “we were finally able to extract some of your blood to run some tests and the doctors were finally able to get to work on saving you. With your blood, we hoped to either find your species, or at least, a species in our database that had a similar genetic makeup to yours, and we did. It turns out Kree blood and your own were very similar. Not completely identical, and we had to give your body an Immunosuppressant to stop it from rejecting the transfusion, but close enough that a transfusion would save your life.”

“Who gave me the transfusion?”

“I did,” Yon-Rogg admitted.

“You?” Vers frowned, “why? You… you didn’t know me.”

“I didn’t, yes, but I wasn’t going to stand back and let you die,” he explained, “it took a while. You had lost a lot of blood in the explosion, so it took a lot of my own to replace it, but eventually, they managed to stabilize you. It was just a matter of waiting for you to wake up.”

“How long did that take?” Vers asked.

“Three weeks,” Yon-Rogg revealed, “we used that time to try and figure out where you had come from, but your ship was completely destroyed in the crash and we there was no possibility of salvaging any data from it. We had no other choice but to wait for you to wake up and hope you would have some answers when you did.”

“But when I did,” Vers realized, “I had no memory.”

Yon-Rogg nodded, “we hoped that with time, it would return to you, but our medical team said it was very unlikely. You had no recollection of your life from before the accident. You couldn’t remember anything, not even your own name. The only thing you said before you woke up was ‘Vers’, over and over. We took that as you trying to tell us your name.”

“But why tell me I’m from Hala?” Vers asked, “you made fake documents about my birth, where I grew up, my parents, a life I never had on Hala. You made up a lie. Why?”

“Because I thought it was the best option,” Yon-Rogg, admitted, “it was my decision and mine alone. I didn’t see the point in telling you the truth.”

“You didn’t see the point? I deserved to know, Yon. You had no right to keep that from me.”

“Yes, you did, and I’m sorry I kept the truth from you but what would happen after, Vers?” he asked, “I tell you the truth, I explain to you what happened and then you want to know more, but we couldn’t give you those answers. I thought it would be better for you to live a lie, rather than have a life where you don’t know who you were and where you came from. At least by creating a fictionalized life for you on Hala, you’d know who you are.”

“Yeah, but now I have no connection to these people, Yon,” Vers said, “I… I guess I understand why you lied, but I believed it. For the past six years, I’ve been thinking I grew up on Hala. You told me my parents passed away before I joined Starforce, and I had no siblings and you guys were the family I had but I come to this planet and I find out I had a life here. I have a sister who’s missed me, I had a job, I listened in on Alex’s conversation before I confronted her and apparently, I have a mother here. I _had_ a life, Yon, yet when I see Alex and she calls herself my sister, I feel nothing. There’s no connection. All I have is a few familiarities with this place. If I had known the truth, at least there might’ve been something _there_ when I met them.”

“I didn’t think of that, Vers,” Yon-Rogg admitted, “I thought that if we couldn’t find where you came from, we could at least make you a part of our family.”

Vers sighed, pressing the palm of her hands into her eyes, “stars, it’s been a long day.”

“That it has,” Yon-Rogg chuckled, “look, Vers, I truly am sorry that I lied to you, but I did it because I thought it would hurt less. Are we good?”

Vers nodded, “yeah, we’re good. Also, on the topic of apologizing, I guess I should say I’m sorry that I kinda implied that you kidnapped me all of those years ago.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugged, “besides, today hasn’t all been news, right? You said you met your sister. Alex, was it?”

“Yeah, Alex Danvers,” Vers replied, “she’s the leader of the DEO.”

Yon-Rogg hummed, “what’s that?”

“They’re this special operations organization,” Vers shrugged, “they deal with fighting and protecting aliens, basically. Kinda like a Terran version of Starforce, in a way.”

“You must’ve been pleased to meet her, though?”

Vers chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck, “not exactly.”

Yon-Rogg frowned, before letting out a small ‘ah’, “they didn’t believe you, did they?”

“No, they didn’t,” Vers admitted, “I told them the truth. Well, what I thought was the truth, but I overheard them talking about me. The Martian, J’onn, didn’t trust me, and they had taken a DNA sample from me without my knowledge. They found my own DNA, mixed in with yours, and because they didn’t know what it was, added with my lack of memories, they believed I was created by one of the DEO’s enemies and sent to infiltrate and take them down.”

“Lure them with someone who looks like they’re long lost friend, gain their trust and when they’re not expecting it, take them down,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “all of the evidence would certainly point to that, so I can understand why they would jump to that conclusion. What did you do?”

“Well, I overheard them talking about how they could arrest me, so I may or may not have put a hole in their roof as I left,” Vers admitted sheepishly, “then I came here, where I met you guys.”

“I’m sorry,” Yon-Rogg apologized, “I’m sure that must’ve hurt.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” Vers shrugged.

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“We’ll be off to Hala in a bit,” Vers replied, “I got to meet them, I know the truth now. It’s fine.”

“Come with me,” Yon-Rogg urged, leading Vers back to the warehouse.

Back inside, all traces of the Skrulls presence had been removed. The bodies were gone, as were the remains of their signaling device. Minn-Erva was packing away the disposal kit, whilst Att-Lass and Bron-Char were finishing applying the self-cleansing formula to the floor.

“Right, listen,” Yon-Rogg called out, “Att-Lass, Bron-Char, Korath. I want you three to head back to the ship and move it somewhere secure. A highly trained Terran special ops team will most likely be here soon and I would prefer they didn’t locate our ship. Send me the coordinates when you’re done, and Att-Lass? Contact the Supreme Intelligence and tell them the ship is in need of repairs.”

“But, sir. The ship’s fine,” Att-Lass frowned.

“Att, the ship is in need of repairs,” Yon-Rogg urged.

Att-Lass frowned at his leader, before looking at Vers and realizing. He quickly nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

“If the ship’s fine, and you don't mind me asking, why aren’t we leaving?” Minn-Erva asked.

“I’ve told Vers the truth,” Yon-Rogg explained, “because as it turns out, this is the planet Vers had come from the day we met her. She has a family here, but right now, they’re not convinced Vers is the real deal, and that is my fault. So Minn, you’ll be joining me and Vers.”

“What are we doing?” Vers asked, confused.

“We’ll be heading to this DEO so I can explain everything to them.”

Vers balked, shaking her head, “Yon, I appreciate the effort, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t think they’ll be too welcoming.”

“We’ll be fine, Vers,” Yon-Rogg replied, “you said it yourself, this is only because of a misunderstanding,” he turned to Att-Lass, “Att, how long do you think you could draw the ‘repairs’ out for?”

“I can tell the Supreme Intelligence the Jump Core is still damaged,” he answered, “and that the outer shell needs some work. If it were true, that would take three hours, at a minimum.”

“Yes, but sir,” Korath interrupted, “when we get back to Hala, the Supreme Intelligence will expect a report. We will not be able to hide it from them.”

“And I will explain everything to them and that it was my choice,” Yon-Rogg countered, “look, we don’t have a lot of time. Minn-Erva, you’re with us. The rest of you, you know what to do. So let’s go.”


	7. Chapter 6

After Vers had escaped from the DEO and left a hole in the roof of their building, the government organization had gone into full-blown panic mode. They had pulled out all of the stops in their bid to locate Vers. Their facial recognition software was brought out, using every accessible camera in the city to locate her, every local law enforcement officer had been notified about the Supergirl-lookalike, with strict orders to relay back any information as soon as possible and the DEO itself was getting ready to sweep the city, equipping every weapon in the building with Kryptonite-laced darts, ready to take down the doppelgänger on sight. Somewhere in the depths of the DEO, a team of agents selected by Alex personally was getting ready for the mission, strapping on their body armor and preparing their weapons, but Alex was already ready.

She had already come into work wearing her standard DEO uniform, but on top, she had strapped to her chest a large Kevlar-like vest, providing her with a high amount of protection and equipped with a built-in body-cam with ammunition strapped along the front. Her usual energy pistol was strapped to her thigh-holster, with her radio on the other side, but slung around her back was an advanced alien rifle, one that had been salvaged from a crashed ship a few years back. It had become a personal favorite of Alex’s. As she finished connecting the final buckle of her Kevlar, tightening the strap as much as possible until the armor was snug around her torso, she approached Brainy, who was stood at the terminals looking over the large screens which were showing the live camera footage of the city.

“Any updates?” Alex asked, pulling out her pistol and quickly inspecting it before holstering the weapon.

“None so far, Director Danvers, but I assure you, she cannot hide for long,” Brainy responded, “these cameras are providing us with real-time footage of the city and our scanners are listening out for any police reports. We will find her soon enough.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Alex shook her head, “from what J’onn told us, she’s highly skilled, this… doppelgänger. Don’t be surprised if we can’t find her on camera. For all we know, that suit of hers might allow her to render herself invisible.”

“So where are you going first?”

“The warehouse,” Alex answered, “for all we know, she was probably lying about these ‘Skrulls’, but the warehouse could’ve very well been her base of operations. We’ll check the area there first and then work our way into the city.”

“Alex, should I remind you that that strange signal went offline less than half an hour ago?” Brainy asked, “you and your team are preparing for conflict but be prepared for the possibility that Vers may have been telling the truth.”

“How?” Alex asked, “look at the evidence, Brainy. An irregularity in her blood that you, a twelfth-level intellect from the future couldn’t figure out? A planet and a species that you nor we have ever come across and her supposed lack of memories? J’onn was right, it’s awfully coincidental. Until we’re provided with concrete evidence that she is telling the truth, we have to assume that she isn’t.”

“Alex, have you ever thought that maybe you want it to be a lie?”

“Why would I want that? Brainy, I wish she was Kara, more than anything,” Alex scoffed.

“Really?” Brainy asked, “because once you realized Vers had no memories of her life on Earth, that's _if_ she is Kara, you didn’t hesitate to accept J’onn’s theory that she is an imposter. Perhaps you want her to be lying because it’s less painful than accepting the fact that if she is Kara, she has no memories of her life with you.”

Alex seethed. She hated to admit it, but Brainy was right. It _did_ hurt when she realized that Vers had no memories of her life as Kara, but he was also wrong. She did believe that J’onn’s theory was correct. In all of her years serving under him, J’onn had never given Alex a reason to doubt his decisions. If he believes that Vers is an imposter, then Alex knew he must be right. Personal feelings aside, bringing in Vers is the right decision, and it has nothing to do with her personal feelings.

_Right._

“My feelings have nothing to do with this, Brainy,” she argued, “she’s a threat to the people of National City. You saw the photos of the bar. You saw what she can do. Just find her.”

Brainy looked at her, a sympathetic look in his eyes before he reluctantly nodded and turned back to the screens, muttering a low ‘yes, ma’am’. Alex sighed, feeling guilty at her outburst. She understood that he was trying to help, but-

“Alex!”

Alex turned to the owner of the voice. It was J’onn, and he was waving her over. She gave Brainy one last look before heading over to the Martian.

“What is it?” she asked, “what’s wrong?”

“I know you won’t want to hear this right now but I think that Brainy may have a point,” J’onn suggested, “you’re far too attached to this and it may be clouding your judgment. I think it would be for the best if you stayed here.”

“I can’t stay here, J’onn, I’m the Director,” Alex argued, “and I’m fine. I’m not too attached.”

“Look, I get it, Alex. I can’t imagine how much this is hurting you right now,” J’onn replied, “but you need to be objective with this. You can’t see Vers as the woman who looks like your sister right now, you need to see her as a threat to National City.”

“I am.”

“Are you?” J’onn asked, “because it doesn’t look it. Perhaps… perhaps I should go instead.”

“I can’t allow that,” Alex replied, “you’re no longer a member of the DEO, J’onn. You’re a civilian now. Besides, you’re the one who suggested that Vers was lying. I thought you’d be happy we’re going after her.”

“Yes, I did, but I didn’t expect you to get all trigger happy, Alex.”

“J’onn, she escaped from DEO custody,” Alex argued, “she put a hole in our ceiling. The reinforced ceiling of our heavily fortified building. She is a threat. How else do you expect me to react?”

“All I’m saying is… you’re not acting rationally right now,” J’onn explained, “first you accept her as your sister with open arms, but then when you’re presented with evidence that indicates she may not be, you start preparing for war. I said I _think_ she might be lying, not that she is. I never suggested that you start actively preparing to hunt her down, and that’s what makes me worry that you might be compromised. We should be looking at all of the evidence we have right now, not declaring that she’s guilty and going after her.”

“So what, I should just let her do whatever she wants whilst we sit around trying to figure out if she’s a threat or not?”

“Well, you’re going to want to figure out the answer for that in the next thirty seconds because Vers is headed right for the DEO,” Brainy announced, “and she’s not alone.”

“What!?” Alex jumped, rushing over to Brainy with J’onn in pursuit, “why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“Because they only just appeared on our scanners,” Brainy explained, “one moment they weren’t there, and then the next, they were. They just appeared out of thin air.”

“Okay, so whereabouts are they?” Alex asked, “the garage? The-“

_Tap, tap, tap._

“I believe they’re at the balcony,” Brainy mumbled.

Alex spun around, slinging her rifle around her shoulder and switching off the safety, she aimed it directly at the large windows that sat above the stairwell, taking in the three figures on the balcony. Every agent in the room quickly mirrored their boss, pulling their guns from their holsters and raising the weapons, aiming in the same direction that Alex was. From counting the number of agents in the room, Alex figured there were at least two dozen guns trained on them.

At the windows that led to the large balcony that overlooked the city, Yon-Rogg stood at the front, arms behind his back with Vers and Minn-Erva on either side of him. He was smiling, whilst his fellow Starforce members wore uneasy looks on their faces.

Alex slowly walked towards the stairs, gun firm in her grip as she neared the glass doors. Yon-Rogg seemed unperturbed by the rifle that was pointed directly between his eyes, waiting patiently for Alex to open the doors. Her eyes flicked towards Vers, who was awkwardly looking at the floor as if something fascinating was on it. She clenched her jaw, recognizing the same look of awkwardness that she had seen on her sister’s face so many times before. She grabbed the door handle, prying open the door whilst keeping her weapon locked on the trio in front of her. After a moment of silence between the two, where Alex tried to gage the man in front of her, he spoke.

“You must be Alex Danvers.”

“Who are you?” Alex demanded, ignoring his remark as she looked at him and Minn-Erva, “both of you?”

“My name is Yon-Rogg, commander of Starforce,” Yon-Rogg introduced himself, gesturing to Minn-Erva beside him, “and this is Minn-Erva, the sharpshooter of my team. I believe you’ve already met Vers today.”

Alex nodded. Vers _had_ mentioned a Yon-Rogg earlier, “what are you doing here? We’re supposed to be looking for her, so why have you come to us?”

“As a gesture of goodwill,” Yon-Rogg raised his hands, showing no hidden weapons, “and to tell you that I want to talk to you.”

“Why?” Alex asked, “why would you want to talk to me?”

“Vers told me how you have been reluctant to believe her,” Yon-Rogg explained, “and that is my own fault. I came here to rectify that, and to explain everything to you. You are her sister, after all.”

“My sister is dead!” Alex snapped, “I don’t know who she is or where you three came from or who sent you, but she is not Kara.”

“I assure you, no one sent us,” Yon-Rogg calmly replied, “and she _is_ your sister, Alex.”

Alex tightened her grip, unconsciously looking at Vers, who nodded. She had a pleading look in her eyes, one that Alex had seen and trusted so many times before, and Alex hated how she automatically loosened the grip on her gun, “how do I know you aren’t lying?”

Yon-Rogg answered, “because I am more than willing to submit my blood for testing for you to compare to the sample you took from Vers earlier today, as well as show you proof that we’re not lying.”

“Alex,” J’onn’s voice called out, “what are you doing?”

“How do I not know the moment I let you in, you won’t kill us all?” Alex probed, ignoring J’onn, “I saw what she can do, and I guess you can too.”

Yon-Rogg smirked, “as much as I sometimes wish I did, Minn-Erva and I do not have the same abilities as Vers. In fact, Vers is the only one who does, but if you let me, I can explain why.”

“What about these ‘Skrulls’?” Alex asked, “Vers seemed pretty worried about them earlier. That's if they’re even real.”

“The Skrulls have been dealt with,” Yon-Rogg explained.

“You mean they’re dead?” Alex asked, “well we'll need to see the bodies.”

“That won’t be possible,” Yon-Rogg replied, “they’ve been destroyed. All evidence of their presence on this planet has been removed.”

“Convenient.”

“I imagine it must sound that way,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “can we finally talk?”

Alex took a moment, mulling over her options before conceding. She didn’t lower her weapon, but she did nod, “you have two minutes to convince me you’re not lying. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll have my agents shoot you three on sight, and you _will_ submit to a blood test.”

Yon-Rogg nodded, “that is understandable. Is there a more reasonable place we can do this, or would you prefer to do it out in the open?”

“Come with me, and don’t think of trying anything. We may be humans but most of our weapons aren’t,” Alex jerked her head behind her before walking away, “agents, do not take your weapons off them.”

“Alex, what are you doing?” J’onn asked.

“Doing what you suggested, not preparing for war,” Alex returned, turning to Yon-Rogg, “Brainy, go get the kit,” she ordered, “I want a sample of his blood for testing before he talks.”

Yon-Rogg tapped a few buttons on his gauntlet, and Alex watched in, much to her annoyance, fascination as the material of his suit peeled away to show his bare arm. It was almost symbiotic. He held out his forearm, waiting patiently as Brainy returned with a small blood test kit that he handed over to the Director. He didn’t flinch as Alex pinched his arm with the needle, watching as she drew a small vial’s worth of the blue liquid. She looked at the vial for a second, scrutinizing it and its owner before handing it over to Brainy, who walked off in the direction of the medical bay.

“Are you sure you don’t need anymore?” he smiled.

“That’s enough for now,” Alex replied, “just know that that blood better give us the answers we want.”

“Of course,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “please, lead the way.”

“J’onn, Susan, can you join us?” Alex asked, before turning to Vers and Minn-Erva, “I’d like you two to wait out here.”

Vers and Minn-Erva looked to Yon-Rogg, protests on the tip of their tongues, but Yon-Rogg nodded. Reluctantly, the two Starforce members dropped onto the small chairs outside the briefing room, watching as Yon-Rogg disappeared along with J’onn and Susan.

As the others stepped in before her, Alex followed, closing the door before tapping in an intricate set of keys, her own personal code, on the digital keypad next to the handle. Almost instantaneously, the windows around them became a dark shade of black and a soft hissing noise filled the room. The Starforce commander looked around as the room dimmed before a small lightbulb above the table lit up.

“I thought we should have a bit of privacy. No one outside this room will be able to hear us,” Alex declared, “as for your two minutes? They just started.”

“Alright,” standing up Yon-Rogg nodded. He peeled something away from his gauntlet before tossing it onto the table. It was a small triangular object, one that lit up the moment it touched the surface and Alex, J’onn and Susan watched as a holographic screen came to life, “six years ago, the Supreme Intelligence, a highly intelligent A.I. that runs the Kree Empire, detected Skrull activity on the outer rim of our galaxy. The Skrulls do not normally go out that far, so my team and I were sent to investigate the disturbance. When we arrived, we discovered the Skrulls engaging in battle with a small pod-like ship. I’m guessing you will recognize it.”

He tapped a button on his gauntlet, and the hologram began showing an up-close recording of the small ship.

“That’s… that’s Kara’s ship,” Alex murmured, looking at J’onn who nodded in agreement, “that’s the ship she arrived in when she first came to Earth,” she added.

“It _was_ also the ship she left in six years ago,” J’onn admitted.

“Well, the ship was under attack,” Yon-Rogg continued, “before we could help, the Skrulls managed to shoot it down and send it into the gravity well of an uninhabited planet below. We chased after them, but they beat us to her and by the time we arrived, your sister was fighting them off by herself.”

He changed the image again, this time to the same recording he had shown Vers less than an hour ago. Vers’ recorded counterpart was fighting off the Skrulls, shooting the powerful beams of energy from her eyes as the Skrull’s own energy-based weapons bounced off of her.

“The Skrulls’ numbers have been dwindling the past few months, and they can’t afford to lose many soldiers. The war is finally starting to tip in the Kree’s favor,” Yon-Rogg continued, “so when they realized we had arrived, they tried to flee. However, your sister hit their ship with those energy beams from her eyes.”

“Heat vision,” Alex corrected, “it’s when a Kryptonian releases solar energy through their eyes.”

“Heat vision?” he nodded, “well, your sister hit their ship with her ‘heat vision’ in the exact same spot that their ship’s energy core was, an accident, most likely. Those cores can be extremely unstable, and once it was hit, the ship exploded, capturing the Skrulls and your sister in the blast radius.”

He tapped another button and the image flicked to life, illuminating the room as one moment the screen was quiet and then in the next, it filled with a bright light as the recording captured the explosion.

“Those energy cores are powered with cosmic energy,” Yon-Rogg explained, “a very volatile energy source that was outlawed on Hala decades ago as it could be too unstable. Nothing should be able to survive a blast like that, which is why we were surprised to find out your sister had.”

“Her Kryptonian physiology.”

“I’m sorry?” Yon-Rogg frowned.

“If… If Vers truly is Kara,” Alex explained, “then she’s a Kryptonian. The planet Krypton orbited a red star which emits red solar energy. If a Kryptonian’s cells are irradiated with red solar energy, they’re as vulnerable as a human, but if their cells are irradiated with yellow solar energy, then they gain powerful abilities. It’s called the Photonucleic Effect. Their powers range from invulnerable skin to heat vision to x-ray vision and flight and more. The only thing that can then harm them is Kryptonite, which is a radioactive mineral from their home planet, and red solar energy or something with as much force as her.”

“Like an explosion,” J’onn offered.

“However,” Yon-Rogg continued, “it did hurt her.”

Yon-Rogg tapped a button on his gauntlet and the video changed to a picture. It was of Vers, but not as she was now. She was lying on an operating table, unconscious and barely alive. She was wearing a torn version of the ‘Supergirl’ outfit Vers had seen on the statue, but her hair was all singed, with fresh cuts over her face and scalp. It reminded Alex of the time Kara was bested by Reign, and J’onn was clearly able to tell by the look on her face.

“Two minutes is up, Alex,” J’onn murmured, “what now?”

Alex looked to Yon-Rogg, who was waiting patiently for a response, “I want to hear more.”

Yon-Rogg nodded his thanks, “the blast knocked her out, but it took a while for the heat and the blast to die down and by the time we were able to get to her, she had lost a lot of blood. We had to get her back to Hala as quickly as possible. Our medical team tried to work on her, but they couldn’t pierce her skin and we ended up waiting for her to lose enough blood for her ‘abilities’ to stop working so we could perform a transfusion.”

Alex’s eyes widened in realization, “so the anomaly in her blood? That was-“

“Was not an anomaly, yes,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “it was Kree blood. In this particular case, my blood. Kree blood was the only type we could find that was similar to her own. We had to give her an immunosuppressant to stop her from rejecting it but we had no other choice. The Kree Empire had never heard or met any Kryptonians before Vers, and time was running out. Also, the Kree are naturally a lot more resilient than a lot of species, and we were told our blood would speed up her healing process.”

“But I don’t understand these new powers she’s got,” J’onn cut in, “Kara could never do what I saw her do in the bar, and she hasn’t used any of her natural Kryptonian abilities.”

“I may be able to answer that,” Brainy interrupted as the room’s isolation procedure was lifted as he entered the briefing room. He tapped in his own code and the room returned to its previous state, “I have his blood test results.”

Alex took the tablet from Brainy’s hands, reading the contents, “well, Yon-Rogg’s telling the truth about that part, it seems. It’s his blood in Vers’ system.”

J’onn reached over and took the tablet from Alex, looking over the results for himself, “a perfect match.”

“It would explain why Vers seems to have lost some of her Kryptonian abilities that she would normally develop under a yellow star,” Brainy revealed, “the majority of the blood in her system is now Kree, and has corrupted her original Kryptonian physiology. The little Kryptonian blood that remains allowed her to retain some of her powers, but not all. From what we’ve seen, the flight seems to be one, as does invulnerability and her heightened senses. Tell me, Yon-Rogg, has Vers shown any other abilities?”

“Besides the ones that she gained from the energy core? No,” Yon-Rogg shook his head, “when Vers first started her training for Starforce, we tried to see if she could activate that ‘heat vision’ of hers, but she was unable to.”

Brainy nodded, “and when did she gain those new abilities of hers?

“When the Skrull ship’s energy core was detonated.”

“As I theorized,” Brainy nodded, “her ability to store solar radiation in her cells.”

“That’s what saved her,” Alex finished, “that’s why the blast didn’t kill her. Added with her invulnerability, unlike the Skrulls who were vaporized, Kara’s cells were able to store the cosmic energy instead of being destroyed by it.”

“That’s what our medical team guessed, although we didn’t know how she was able to do it,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “unfortunately, it wasn’t until she woke up that we discovered she had lost all of her memories. The only thing she had said before waking up was Vers. We had assumed she was telling us her name, but I now realize she had been trying to. She had been trying to say Danvers.”

“Was there no way to help her regain her memories?” Alex asked, “from what we’ve seen, the Kree are obviously an advanced civilization.”

“We are,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “but we couldn’t do anything for her. There’s no medicine that exists that restores one's memories, and it was too dangerous to use the Supreme Intelligence straight away.”

Alex frowned.

“Starforce members can speak to the Intelligence through their minds,” Yon-Rogg explained, “we allow ourselves to be connected and we talk to the Intelligence through that. Intelligence presents itself to us in our minds as the person you admire the most.”

“Why was that too dangerous?”

“Vers was severely injured,” Yon-Rogg answered, “her mind was still healing, and allowing a powerful A.I. to go inside her mind could’ve left her brain dead, and by the time she had recovered enough to leave the hospital,-“

“The damage had already been done,” Alex finished, “so you created a story for her to live instead?”

Yon-Rogg nodded, “I admit now that it may not have been the right choice, but I thought that if we couldn’t find out where Vers had come from, then we could at least give her a life on Hala, so we told her that she had been a member of Starforce since she was young enough to join and we had become her family after she lost her parents. It took months of training and controlling her new abilities and a year of education but we were able to integrate Vers into our society. I promise you though, had I found out where Vers had come from, I would’ve brought her here right away.”

“So you’re saying she’s actually Kara,” Alex was smiling now, “this is-“

“Alex,” J’onn softy cut in, “stop.”

“Why?” Alex frowned, “J’onn, he’s told us his story. He’s provided proof. You can’t honestly think he’s still lying?”

“No, Alex, it’s fine,” Yon-Rogg raised his hand to calm the Director down, “he has every right to be wary of us, and it’s the smart thing to do. Photographic and video evidence can be falsified.”

“Thank you, I guess,” J’onn nodded, albeit awkwardly.

“What about the blood?” Alex asked, “J’onn, you said it yourself. A perfect match.”

“Is there any other way I could prove it to you?” Yon-Rogg asked.

“Yes-.”

“No.”

Alex and J’onn glared at each other, and Yon-Rogg stepped forward.

“What is it?”

Alex turned to Yon-Rogg, ignoring J’onn’s glare, “J’onn is a Martian.”

“Yes, Vers told me,” he nodded, “she told me he could shapeshift.”

“Well Martians also have the ability to read minds,” Alex explained, “he’s a telepath.”

“That’s perfect,” Yon-Rogg announced, “read my mind and you will see I’m being truthful.”

“You’re okay with me reading your thoughts?” J’onn frowned, “despite us not knowing each other?”

“Vers clearly trusted you in her previous life, and although she won’t say it because she’s the most stubborn person I know, I know how much this means to her,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “and as I said, the Supreme Intelligence reads our minds to communicate with us. We’re used to it by now so please, by all means.”

J’onn shrugged, standing up and walking over to Yon-Rogg. Yon-Rogg relaxed his body, breathing slowly as J’onn pressed two fingers against Yon-Rogg’s temple and his eyes glowed red. It took only a few seconds, but at that time, J’onn saw everything and he jerked back as he removed himself from Yon-Rogg’s mind.

“What is it? What did you see?”

“He’s… he’s telling the truth,” J’onn revealed, “she’s Kara.”

The confirmation that what she hoped to be true was indeed true was all that Alex needed to hear. She didn’t hesitate to rush to the door, ignoring J’onn as he called out to her. She quickly typed in her code, lowering the room’s privacy settings and yanking the door open. Minn-Erva and Vers jumped up as Alex appeared in the doorway. Vers opened her mouth to speak, looking at Yon-Rogg, who was stood behind Alex with a small smile on his face, but she was cut off when Alex launched herself at Vers, wrapping her arms around the blonde’s frame and pulling her into a hug because Alex couldn’t quite believe it. After six years, Kara had finally come home. She wasn’t an imposter; she wasn’t a clone. She was Kara, and she was home.

Vers yelp was muffled as her face ended up buried in Alex’s neck, and she didn’t quite know what to do with her arms. She was pretty sure she could hear Minn-Erva snickering from the side as she flailed her arms aimlessly before resorting to gently patting Alex on the back. Finally knowing the truth was the best news Vers had ever heard, and it was clearly the same case for Alex, but Vers wasn’t exactly used to physical contact albeit from one person.

Kara Danvers had clearly loved physical contact.

Her jumbled thoughts came to an end in time for Vers to realize that Alex was actually talking.

“-to celebrate,” Alex announced, “this… this is brilliant! Then we’ll have- Wait! Eliza.”

“Who?” Vers asked awkwardly, finally stepping back from Alex when her arms unraveled from her back.

“Mom,” Alex replied, “she came down to visit for the week. I had to take her home earlier but I’ll have to call her. She’s probably been waiting for hours to hear something. She’s going to be so happy.”

“That’s… that’s great,” Vers nodded, putting on a smile.

“We’ll have to call everyone,” Alex continued, “Clark’s on Argo City with Lois, as they just gave birth to your second cousin, Jon, but I can get a message sent out to him to tell him. James is back in Metropolis as the Head of the Daily Planet, but I can get Brainy to give him a call. Lena will definitely want to know, as you two were best friends. And Cat! She’ll want to know. She’ll kill us if she finds out some other way.”

“You have to tell your cat?” Vers asked, frowning at the statement.

“What? No,” Alex laughed, “Cat was your boss at CatCo. Catherine Grant. You idolized her and she was devastated when she’d heard you’d died. Who else, J’onn?”

“Okay, Alex, perhaps you should calm down a bit,” J’onn chuckled, “you’re probably overwhelming her.”

He stepped forward, nodding at the Starforce member, “I’m sorry about earlier, with accusing you of being a spy.”

“It’s okay,” Vers nodded, “and I’m sorry about attacking you at the bar.”

“All water under the bridge,” J’onn smiled, “Alex’s overwhelming excitement aside, she’s right. There’s going to be a lot of people who are happy to hear this news, Vers.”

“Really?” Vers asked. She couldn’t quite believe it.

“We’ll have to find somewhere to go but we have to celebrate,” Alex nodded, “it can just be us for now, if you want.”

“Oh… that’s the thing,” Vers replied, “I don’t know if we can. Yon said-“

“That we have a few more hours at least,” Yon-Rogg cut in, “what Vers is saying is she’d love to celebrate and catch up. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell her more about herself, should she wish.”

“What about reporting back to the Supreme Intelligence?” Vers frowned, “our excuse for repairing the ship won’t last long.”

“They can wait,” Yon-Rogg shrugged, “believe it or not, the Supreme Intelligence has a bit of a soft spot for me. I’ll tell her your good news and they’ll understand.”

“You can bring the rest of your team if you’d like,” Alex offered.

“I’m sure they’d be happy to have some extra time off,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “thank you.”

“Where are we going to go?” Brainy asked, “no offense to Vers but she did ‘trash’ the dive bar, and there aren’t many alien friendly establishments.”

Vers winced, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Alex waved her off, “I know this great bar downtown and they serve aliens. J’onn, why don’t you take them there as you know the one I’m talking about. Yon-Rogg-“

“Please, just call me Yon.”

“Okay, Yon. You go and get your team and I’ll get Eliza and we’ll meet you there.”

* * *

Her reunion with Eliza Danvers at the bar that Alex had suggested was just as emotional as the one she had shared with Alex and went exactly like Vers imagined it would. There were tears and statements of ‘I can’t believe it’, with Alex hugging Vers at every opportunity to which she had resigned her fate for and drinks were shoved into hands as Alex and J’onn both made toasts to celebrate her return. However, luckily for Vers, Eliza had quickly figured out that she wasn’t quite ready for physical affection, and had just pulled Vers in for a quick side hug. Despite seeing the tears in Eliza’s eyes and knowing how much Eliza probably wanted to hold her as Alex had, Vers was grateful for Eliza’s understanding. Perhaps it was the expression on her face every time she was pulled into a hug, or perhaps it was her motherly instincts. Either way, Vers was grateful, and she had to shield her eyes away briefly when she felt tears welling at the overwhelming sensation of affection she was receiving from the woman. She did catch eyes with Yon-Rogg at one point, who was stood over at the bar with the rest of the team and he raised his glass to her, giving her a supportive smile.

After the welcome wagon finally departed and they all realized they were disturbing the other patrons, Vers, Alex, Eliza, and J’onn eventually resigned to sitting in a small booth in the corner of the bar. Vers’ team could still be seen sitting up at the bar, gulping down multiple bottles of booze like they were nothing. Vers had switched from drinking bottles of cheap beer to the same drink that Alex was, a caramel-colored liquid. Eliza, Brainy, and J’onn were talking to each other when Vers realized Alex’s eyes were on her and the small glass in her hands.

“What’s wrong?” Vers frowned, peering inside her glass.

“Nothing,” Alex shrugged, “it’s just… it’s weird seeing you drink that.”

“Why?”

“You hated it,” Alex laughed, “well, you used to, I guess. I remember watching you try it for the first time when you were eighteen. It was the first time you’d gone to a party with me and you told me it tasted like battery acid. You looked at me like I’d killed your puppy.”

“Really?” Vers frowned, “I think it’s great.”

“She’s not wrong, Alex,” Yon-Rogg’s voice joined the conversation as he dropped down next to Vers, “these drinks taste delicious, nothing like the drinks we have on Hala. What is it called?”

“That’s a Lager,” Alex answered, watching Yon-Rogg with a smirk, “is it even affecting you?”

Yon-Rogg frowned, “no, why? Should it?”

“That’s alcohol,” Alex laughed, “but you’re an alien, so our alcohol doesn’t affect you, it seems.”

“Really?” Yon-Rogg looked at the bottle, “ah, so it is. It doesn’t taste like it. I thought it was a soft drink.”

Vers shook her head, “ignore him, he’s probably winding you up.”

Yon-Rogg chuckled into his drink as Vers rolled her eyes at his antics. Ending their conversation, Eliza, J’onn and Brainy looked over at Vers and Yon-Rogg.

“So what’s your planet like, Yon?” Eliza asked, “what was it, Hela?”

“Hala,” Yon-Rogg corrected, “it’s in what your species refer to as the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s a gorgeous city.”

“City? I thought you said it was a planet.”

“It is,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “but it’s also a city. The entire planet is one big city.”

“So there’s no oceans?” Alex asked, “no separate continents?”

“There used to be,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “thousands of years ago, the layout of our planet was quite similar to yours, but as our technology improved and different species began moving to our planet, we expanded our cities until the entire the entire surface was just one big city.”

“And is it just towering skyscrapers?” Brainy asked, “or are their suburban living areas with smaller buildings?”

“The city has two levels,” Yon-Rogg explained, “the upper level is mainly apartment buildings and offices, and it’s all split up into different sectors, all with their own Starforce base, but the lower level is actually the residential area. That’s where you’ll commonly find family houses and small businesses.”

“It must be dark down there if they’re below ground,” Brainy assumed.

“Actually no,” Yon-Rogg shook his head, “every building on the upper level is equipped with retro-reflective panels on the roofs. It broadcasts a live image of the sky to the lower levels and they have systems below them to simulate a variety of weather conditions.”

“But how do you get around?” Brainy asked, “have the Kree mastered the technology of teleportation? Or do you use some other method of transportation to get around?”

“It’s not really that different from the way you travel here,” Yon-Rogg shrugged, “we have our hyper-trains that can take you from sector to sector, and the lower level has its own underground rail system. You can also pay for an aerial vehicle if you’re traveling a long distance, but most people own propulsion based vehicles.”

“What are they? Flying cars?”

“If that’s what you call your vehicles that use wheels to get around then yes,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “ours are very similar design-wise, but we’re no longer able to use wheels.”

“But what about you, Vers?” Eliza asked, “where do you live on Hala?”

“Every sector has its own Starforce base,” Vers answered, “we’re located in the sector that houses the main Starforce base. That’s the one where you can have direct contact with the Supreme Intelligence. Every base comes with a neighboring apartment building for Starforce members and trainees.”

“Vers lives on the top floor,” Yon-Rogg added, “we wanted her to have the most comfortable living conditions she could have after her accident to help her with her recovery.”

“Well, we had to sell your apartment,” Alex admitted, “I tried to hold on to it for as long as possible, but once we realized you weren’t… well, we thought you weren’t coming back, I had to give it up.”

“I’m sorry,” Vers apologized.

“Don’t apologize,” Alex replied, “it wasn’t your fault. Besides, we can always get you a new place. There are people living in your old one but so that’s off the table but I’m sure we could find another apartment for you. There’s a bunch near me, but there’s a few nearer the DEO. I’ve been looking at one of those because it would make my commute to work a lot easier but I can always look into getting one for you so-“

“Alex,” Eliza hissed.

“What?” Alex frowned.

“You can’t start expecting her to move to Earth,” Eliza replied.

“Why not?” Alex asked, “why wouldn’t she?”

“She has a life, Alex,” Eliza replied, “she’s had a life on Hala for the past six years. You can’t expect her to drop all of that now that we know she’s alive.”

“But-“

“I'm sorry, if I may interrupt,” Yon-Rogg cut in, “in the five years that Vers has been a member of Starforce, my one failure is that I have never been able to get her to take some time off. Starforce was her life, and so she never took a break because there was nothing for her to do. However, now that she finally knows the truth about where she came from, the Supreme Intelligence will not have a problem with Vers occasionally taking some time away to visit you.”

“Seriously?”

“Of course,” Yon-Rogg nodded, “from Hala to C-53 with no stops, that’s roughly half an hour through the jump points.”

“I don’t have a pilot’s license,” Vers replied.

“Vers, you’ve already been trained in piloting our jets,” Yon-Rogg shrugged, “I can put you through to take the test the moment we get back on Hala, or…,” he sipped his drink, “you can always get Minn-Erva to give you a lift. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

Vers head snapped towards her commanding officer, her cheeks flushed red, “why… why would I ask her?”

Yon-Rogg smirked, “Vers, please, don’t insult me. Did you really think you two were good at hiding it?”

“I don’t understand,” Alex frowned, “hiding what?”

Eliza sighed, shaking her head, “Alex, please tell me you’re not that oblivious? He’s saying that your sister has a girlfriend. That lovely blue woman at the bar we met earlier.”

Alex craned her neck to look over at the bar. Minn-Erva had her back to them and seemed to be unaware of her being the topic of the conversation.

“Really?”

“It was quite obvious,” Eliza shrugged.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Vers asked, glaring at Yon-Rogg.

“Why didn’t you?” he countered.

“Because… because it’s-“

“It’s not against the rules, Vers,” Yon-Rogg smiled, “there aren’t any bylaws that state Starforce members cannot have personal relationships with each other. I didn’t say anything because you didn’t, but you weren’t good at hiding it. I realized within a few weeks.”

“How long has it been going on?” Eliza probed.

“We started seeing each other a few months after I joined Starforce,” Vers mumbled, looking down at the table to hide her blushing cheeks.

“I’m pretty sure the whole team knows,” Yon-Rogg added, “We just never said anything, but I’m sure she’ll be more than willing to bring you here, should you ask.”

“Is that okay?” Vers asked, turning to Eliza and Alex, “for me to visit?”

“Of course it is,” Alex nodded, “we celebrate quite a few holidays on Earth, so you could come over for a few of them if you want. And I have a spare room at my place for you to use, or we can find you a hotel if you’d prefer.”

“I’m fine with anything,” Vers admitted, “but could we hold off with me meeting any of your friends. I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”

“Yeah, sure,” Alex nodded, “we can-“

Before Alex could finish her sentence, their conversation was cut short by Att-Lass. He was holding a beer bottle in one hand, and his communicator in the other. He was wearing an apologetic expression on his face and added with the fact he had his communicator out, he didn’t have to tell Vers and Yon-Rogg what the bad news was. They could already tell.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“I’m sorry,” Yon-Rogg apologized. He pushed himself up from the “but we must go.”

“What? Now?” Alex frowned, “you haven’t been here long.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Vers nodded, “but we must get back to Hala. The Supreme Intelligence will want an update on the Skrulls. We’re lucky they let us stay here as long as we did.”

“Can’t you ask for some more time?”

“The Supreme Intelligence may be an A.I.,” Yon-Rogg shook his head, “but even they have a temper, and I would prefer we not be the reason they lose it.”

“Still, today has been a blessing,” Eliza stood up, “I know you could’ve just left, but thank you for staying and giving us the chance to meet.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Yon-Rogg waved her off, “it was the right thing to do.”

“So where’s your ship?” Alex asked.

“Att-Lass moved it after we dealt with the Skrulls,” Yon-Rogg answered, “we didn’t know if you had already sent a team out at the time, and I didn’t know how our conversation would go. It was safer to move it, but he’ll tell me where it is and we’ll head there in a bit.”

“Can we come with you?” she asked, “just to say goodbye?”

Yon-Rogg smiled, “I don’t see why not.”


	8. Epilogue

The sun was begging to set as Vers and her team reached the edge of National City’s beach, and the hot air had transitioned into a cool breeze. The beach was scarcely populated, with more being visible closer towards the main city, and there were only a few surfers riding out the last of the waves before the tide inevitably went out. Att-Lass was staring at his gauntlet, which was leading everyone towards the direction of their ship. The device was pinging softly, and Vers could just about see the holographic compass that was pointing the way.

The Starforce team was accompanied by Eliza, Alex, and J’onn, where the first two were upfront talking to Yon-Rogg. Vers had initially eavesdropped on their conversation, unsurprised to find that it was about her. He was regaling them with tales of her time as a rookie Starforce member, and what the training was like, but once he had reached her more humiliating moments, she had shut him out. Just behind them, J’onn was walking with Korath and Bron-Char. The two Starforce members had shown an interest in his home planet, so he told them about the happier aspects of Martian history. Brainy had gone back to the DEO. The organization’s commanding officer had been gone long enough, so Brainy had returned to take up the mantle of Acting-Director until Alex returned.

Vers and Minn-Erva stuck to the back, awkwardly shuffling around the giant elephant in the room as either one waited for the other to speak. Eventually, Minn-Erva was the one who broke the silence.

“So…” she mumbled, “are we okay?”

Vers frowned, “why wouldn’t we be?”

“Well, you did find out today that we’ve all been lying to you for the past six years,” Minn-Erva winced, and we’ve been together for five of them. In normal situations, that would be a dealbreaker.”

“But this isn’t exactly a normal situation, is it?” Vers replied, “and yeah, I was angry earlier, but Yon told me everything and he explained why, so I get why you all did it.”

“Yon-Rogg made us swear not to tell you,” Minn-Erva admitted, “he said that unless we found out where you’d came from, there was no point in telling you.”

“Yeah, he basically said that earlier,” Vers nodded, “besides, it doesn’t matter. The truth’s out now and I finally have some idea where I come from.”

“So is this it?” Minn-Erva asked, “or are you going to come here again?”

Vers nodded, “Yon’s given me permission to use my time off to come here and visit, and Alex said I can stay at hers.”

“That’s great. You must be happy?”

“I am,” Vers smiled, “it’s going to be nice getting to know them again. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for them.”

“How are you going to get here?”

“Yon’s told me he can put me through to take my pilot’s test when we get back to Hala,” Vers shrugged, “but he did suggest asking you if you could take me.”

“Why would he say that?” Minn-Erva frowned.

“Because he kinda knows that we’re together,” Vers replied.

Minn-Erva’s eyes widened, and the sharpshooter glanced at Yon-Rogg, who was still talking to Eliza and Alex.

“What? How?” she asked, “did you tell him?”

“No,” Vers shook her head, “it turns out he already knew… as does the rest of the team. He’s known since we first got together.”

“Why didn’t they say anything?”

“Because we didn’t,” Vers shrugged, “it turns out it isn’t against Starforce regulations for members to date one another, so he didn’t have a problem with it. They were just respecting our privacy.”

After that revelation, their conversation fizzled out as they slowly came to a halt. Att-Lass looked at his gauntlet before looking up at the buildings behind them, just a few meters off the coast. Yon-Rogg stared at him for a second before asking:

“Is something wrong, Att-Lass?”

“No sir,” Att-Lass shook his head, “I just wanted to double-check we were in the right position. Most of these buildings look the same and it's hard to accurately pinpoint our location.”

“So are we?” Yon-Rogg asked, “in the right position?”

“Yes sir,” Att-Lass nodded.

“Where?” Alex frowned, “I don’t see anything.”

“It’s in the water,” Vers replied, “it was probably the safest place to park it.”

“So how do you get to it”?

“Our suits can create a protective layer between us and any environment that we are unable to breathe in,” Yon-Rogg explained, “it allows us to breathe underwater and in a vacuum. Our suits can also create a mask for us to make it easier.”

“So this is it?” Alex asked, turning to Vers, “this is goodbye, I guess.”

“For now,” Vers nodded, “but I’ll visit when I can.”

“Speaking of which,” Yon-Rogg stepped forward. He was prying something away from his gauntlet, handing the small metal object to Alex, “this is our suit’s built-in communicator. Our suits automatically pick up its signal, so I’m sure Brainiac 5 can find a way to build you a communicator that’s capable of reaching us.”

“Thank you,” Alex nodded, pocketing the device, “he’ll get on it right away.”

Yon-Rogg nodded, “okay. Alright team, let’s give Vers some privacy,” he turned to Vers, “we’ll see you on the ship.”

Once the Starforce team had vanished underwater, Vers stepped forward to Alex, J’onn, and Eliza. She clapped her hands awkwardly, suddenly unsure of what to say. Eliza guessed so and did them all the favor of speaking first.

“This isn’t exactly how any of us expected today to go but I cannot stress how amazing it is to know you’re alive and well,” Eliza said, taking Vers’ hands in her own, “I can’t imagine what it must be like for you, all of this, but I look forward to getting to know you again whenever you come to visit. Once Brainy has figured out how to communicate with you, I’m sure he and Alex can tell you when our holidays are so you know when to visit, but I want you to know that you can visit me whenever if you just want to talk, or if you have any questions. I’m sure Alex will help you find me.”

“Thank you, Eliza,” Vers nodded, “and it was nice to meet you… again.”

Alex stepped forward next, tears in her eyes, “Mom was right, today really has been a blessing. Despite the fact we were against each other for a good portion of it, I’m really glad we had this time to get to know each other again, and I look forward to whenever you’re able to visit. I know you don’t remember everything right now but I want you to know that memories or no memories, you’re still my sister.”

“Thanks,” Vers smiled, “and I’m sorry I destroyed your ceiling.”

Alex laughed, “it’s fine.”

Vers turned to J’onn, who was smiling at the pair of them.

“Today had some ups and downs, that’s for sure,” J’onn smiled, “but I’m really glad you’re back, Vers, and I’m glad you’re happy on Hala. From what your team told me, you’re all doing great work, and we’re proud of you.”

Vers nodded, “thank you.”

“So what will you do now?” Alex asked.

“Well, we have to return to Hala first, no detours,” Vers replied, “and once we’ve reported back to the Supreme Intelligence, I’ll figure something out in terms of coming to visit, but Yon’s said he’ll help me with that.”

“Contact us once that’s all been sorted,” Alex requested, “I can tell you all about the holidays we have on Earth, and anything else you want to know. Once that’s all done, we can figure something out from there.”

“I will,” Vers sighed, “as much as I wish I had more time, I have to go, but thank you. Seriously. I’m really looking forward to when we next see each other.”

The three of them nodded as Vers activated her suit. The uniform formed over her clothes and when Vers tapped an extra button, a mask slid over her face, transforming her hair into a small mohawk. A slight blue sheen came over the suit and as Vers began to walk into the sea, the water was repelled away by the small shield. She turned to the trio, waving one last goodbye before diving into the sea and out of sight, leaving behind nothing but a slight trail where he suit propelled her forward.

It only took a few seconds after Vers had vanished, but eventually, the water became distorted in the distance as their cloaked ship rose from the ocean. The only thing giving away their presence was the water that was falling out of thin air and back into the ocean, creating a shimmer effect as the ship rose into the air and shot out of sight, finally leaving the planet’s atmosphere and into the void of space.

The three of them stood there for a few minutes, staring at where the ship had disappeared into before finally turning away. It had been an odd day for everyone, but for the first time in six years?

They were finally happy again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this story and I appreciate the comments.
> 
> This epilogue is a little rushed, I admit, but this was the best version out of the ones that I wrote. I'm not entirely good with writing emotional scenes and I rewrote this one quite a few times and this was the one that felt the most 'realistic' to me.
> 
> I'm considering doing a few one-shots of Vers meeting other friends from her old life such as Barry, Oliver, Clark, etc.


	9. Artwork

Not an actual chapter, but today I decided to make a fan-art of Kara Danvers/Vers and I thought it would be right to upload it here.


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